Electric motors

ABSTRACT

An electric motor has a stator defining multiple stator poles with associated electrical windings, and a rotor having multiple rotor poles. The rotor has flux barriers between adjacent rotor poles, the flux barriers each having a material with an electrical conductivity higher than the rotor pole material. The flux barriers are electrically isolated from one another external to the ferromagnetic material. Eddy currents are induced in the flux barrier to cause destructive interference of an impending magnetic field, such that the flux barrier effectively acts to inhibit magnetic flux during motor operation, which in some cases will result in a repulsive force that will act to increase an induced motive force on the rotor poles.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to electric motors and operation of such motors.

BACKGROUND

Two of the ways in which the performance of electric motors may becharacterized is by their torque/force and their output power. Theoutput power of a rotary motor is a product of a torque that a motorgenerates and an angular velocity of its output shaft. For a linearmotor, the output power is a product of linear force and speed.Conventionally, there are two primary means to directly increase themotor performance: (1) by increasing the size of the motor and (2) bycreating a stronger magnetic field within the motor itself. While theultimate size of a motor limits its specific useful applications,increasing the magnetic field to thereby increase the electromagneticforce may be considered as a key to enable greater motor performance andfurther broader applications of motor technology. There is a need fornew motor designs that offer acceptably high performance to enabledirect drive applications in a compact package, e.g., high torque/forceand power densities.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of the invention feature a motor with flux barriersdisposed between passive poles to alter the path of magnetic flux toprovide a greater component of magnetically induced motive force alignedwith movement direction (to provide useful torque and/or linear force).

According to one aspect of the invention, an electric motor has a statordefining multiple stator poles with associated electrical windings, anda rotor having multiple rotor poles. The rotor is movable with respectto the stator and defines, together with the stator, a nominal gapbetween the stator poles and the rotor poles. The rotor poles are of astack of layers of ferromagnetic material separated from one another, atleast at a surface of the rotor, by interfaces less electricallyconductive than the ferromagnetic material. The rotor has flux barriersbetween adjacent rotor poles, the flux barriers each having a materialwith an electrical conductivity higher than the ferromagnetic material.The flux barriers are electrically isolated from one another external tothe ferromagnetic material.

As used herein, the term “electric motor” also includes electricgenerators that generate electrical power from mechanical power.

By ‘nominal gap’ we mean a gap between relatively moving surfaces of thestator (or active magnetic component) and rotor (or passive magneticcomponent) poles, across which gap magnetic flux extends during motoroperation to induce a force on the rotor (or passive magneticcomponent). We use the term ‘active magnetic component’ to refer to thatportion of a motor that includes electrical windings associated withrespective magnetically permeable structures in which magnetic flux isgenerated by current flowing in the windings. The poles of an ‘activemagnetic component’ are referred to as ‘active poles’. The electricalwindings will generally be held in fixed relation to correspondingactive poles. A wound stator is an example of an active magneticcomponent. We use the term ‘passive magnetic component’ to refer to thatportion of the motor upon which a motive force is induced by magneticflux generated by the active magnetic component, to extend into thepassive magnetic component across the nominal gap. The poles of a‘passive magnetic component’ are referred to as ‘passive poles’. Anon-wound rotor is an example of a passive magnetic component. Thenominal gap may be radial, as in a radial gap motor, or axial, as in anaxial gap motor, for example, and may be filled with air or other gas,or even a liquid, such as a coolant.

By ‘flux barrier’ we mean structure that defines at least oneelectrically conductive path in which a flow of current is induced by achanging magnetic field. Generally, eddy currents will be induced in theflux barrier that cause destructive interference of an impendingmagnetic field, such that the flux barrier effectively acts to inhibit achange in magnetic flux during motor operation, which in some cases willresult in a repulsive force that will act to increase an induced motiveforce on the passive poles.

By ‘electrical conductivity’ we mean the propensity of a material toconduct electricity. With respect to structures in which current isconstrained to flow in a principal direction, such as a wire, we meanthe conductivity in that principal direction.

By ‘electrically isolated from one another’ we mean that the ohmicresistance to an electric potential within a flux barrier is at least 10times less than the ohmic resistance between flux barriers. To say thatthey are isolated from one another external to the ferromagneticmaterial does not preclude that they are in electrical communicationthrough the ferromagnetic material of the layers. In fact, in many casesthe flux barriers are electrically connected through the ferromagneticmaterial.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each comprisesan electrically conductive bar crossing multiple interfaces of thestack.

By ‘electrically conductive’ we mean that a material or structure is atleast as conductive as amorphous carbon at typical motor operatingvoltages, or has a conductivity greater than 1000 Siemens per meter.Examples of electrically conductive materials include silver, copper,aluminum, nickel, iron, and electrical steel (grain oriented orotherwise). Examples of non-conductive materials include non-filledresins, air, wood and cotton. We use the term ‘insulator material’ torefer to materials that are non-conductive or not electricallyconductive.

In some examples, the electrically conductive bar contains at least 20percent, in some cases 40 percent, or in some cases 60 percent, by massfraction, of an element, or combination of elements, selected from thegroup consisting of iron, nickel and cobalt. In some cases, each of theflux barriers having an electrically conductive bar also has anelectrically conductive layer of a different material than the bar andat least partially forming an outer surface of the rotor.

In some configurations, the bar contains at least one percent, in somecases five percent, or in some cases 15 percent by mass fraction, of anelement selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, brass,silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, andcarbon-nanotubes.

The bar may have, or consist of, discrete layers extending parallel tothe nominal gap and forming interlayer interfaces of differingmaterials. In some cases, one of the differing materials includes orconsists essentially of copper, and another of the differing materialsincludes or consists essentially of nickel.

In many instances, the bar has an exposed surface facing the nominalgap.

In some motors, each of the flux barriers having an electricallyconductive bar includes at least two electrically conductive barselectrically connected to each other at opposite ends of the stack toform a conductive loop.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each has ashape, in cross-section taken parallel to the ferromagnetic materiallayers of the stack, that includes two spaced apart projectionsextending away from the nominal gap, and a surface layer connecting thetwo projections. The two projections may be disposed, for example, onopposite sides of a portion of the stack of ferromagnetic materiallayers.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each has anelectrically conductive layer of finite width (in a direction ofrelative motion between the rotor and stator), and of finite thickness(perpendicular to the nominal gap), crossing multiple interfaces of thestack and having an exposed surface forming a surface of the rotor atthe gap.

By ‘finite width’ we mean that the layer has opposite edges and doesnot, for example, extend around an entire circumference of the rotor (oralong an entire length of a linear passive magnetic component).

Similarly, by ‘finite thickness’ we mean that the layer extends to alimited depth and does not, for example, extend entirely through therotor.

In some cases, the width of the layer is more than two times, in somecases more than five times, and in some cases more than 10 times thethickness of the layer.

In some motors, the layer is formed of a material having an electricalcurrent skin depth, at motor operating conditions, greater than thelayer thickness.

By ‘electrical current skin depth’ we mean the depth from the surface ofa conductor at which electric current mainly flows, particularly eddycurrent induced from a magnetic field changing at a given frequency. Fora given material, skin depth can be calculated as:

δ≈1/√{square root over (πfμσ)}

‘f’ is the magnetic switching frequency, μ is the magnetic permeability(in H/mm) of the material, and σ is the electrical conductivity (in %AICS) of the material.

By ‘magnetic permeability’ we generally mean the ability for a materialto support the formation of a magnetic field. The magnetic permeabilityof a material can be determined in accordance with ASTM A772. When wesay that a material is ‘magnetically permeable’ we mean that it has amagnetic permeability of at least 1.3×10⁻⁶ Henries per meter.

In some examples, the layer is disposed within a channel defined by theferromagnetic material and may be in electrical contact with theferromagnetic material of multiple, or all of the, plates.

In some cases, the nominal gap is thinner at the layer than adjacent thelayer.

In some embodiments, each flux barrier includes an electricallyconductive material forming a loop about a core of a core material moremagnetically permeable (i.e., that has a greater magnetic permeability)than the electrically conductive material. In some cases, the corematerial is also ferromagnetic. For example, the core material and theferromagnetic material of the rotor poles may both form contiguousportions of the laminated stack of plates.

In some arrangements, the loop forms a portion of an outer surface ofthe rotor bounding the nominal gap. The core may form a portion of theouter surface of the rotor surrounded by the loop.

In some cases, the loop is disposed beneath a surface of the rotorbounding the nominal gap and including edges of the layers offerromagnetic material.

In some motors, the loop defines a capacitance, which may be formed at adiscrete location along the loop, such as by a non-conductive break inthe loop.

The loop preferably has a resonant frequency in a transmissible range ofthe ferromagnetic material.

By ‘transmissible range’ we mean the frequency range over which themagnetic permeability depreciates by no more than 10 db relative to thepermeability at 60 hz, as measured under static frequency conditions(e.g., with permeability measurements for a given frequency taken overat least 5 cycles of the applied field).

In many motors, the interfaces between the layers of the stack consistof oxidized surfaces of the ferromagnetic material. In some othermotors, the interfaces include sheets of insulator material, such assheets of resin film, interleaved with the ferromagnetic layers.

In many embodiments, the rotor is disposed within the stator. In someother embodiments, the rotor poles are disposed outboard of the statorpoles.

In some motors, the nominal gap is a radial gap at least partiallybounded by a radially outer surface of the rotor. In some other motors,the nominal gap is an axial gap perpendicular to a rotational axis ofthe rotor.

In some motors, each rotor pole (and/or each stator pole) has multipleteeth defining recesses therebetween.

In some embodiments, each stator pole has flux shields extending alongopposite edges of the stator pole and formed of a material having agreater electrical conductivity than material of the stator poledisposed between the flux shields.

According to another aspect of the invention, an electric motor includesan active magnetic component having a first surface defining multipleactive poles with associated electrical windings, and a passive magneticcomponent having a second surface movable with respect to the firstsurface in a first direction and spaced from the first surface to definea gap. The second surface forms a series of spaced-apart passive polesof a first material defining slots therebetween, the slots extending ata non-zero angle to the first direction. Each slot contains a respectiveflux barrier including a second material extending along the slot andforming an electrically conductive path along the slot. The fluxbarriers are secured to the first material within the slots and areconnected to each other only through the first material.

In some embodiments, the slots extend perpendicular to the firstdirection (i.e., the non-zero angle is 90 degrees).

In some cases the flux barriers fill the slots.

In some motors, the flux barriers are in contact (preferably, electricalcontact) with the first material on opposite sides of the slots.

In some configurations, the flux barriers have exposed surfaces formingportions of the second surface.

In some motors, the passive poles include edge surface regions of astack of plates stacked such that the slots cross several plates of thestack. Preferably, the second material of each flux barrier crossesseveral plates of the stack, and/or is in direct contact with each ofthe plates of the stack.

The second material preferably has a greater electrical conductivitythan the first material.

In some examples, each of the flux barriers consists essentially of thesecond material.

In some cases, the second material contains at least 20 percent, in somecases 40 percent, or in some cases 60 percent, by mass fraction, of anelement, or combination of elements, selected from the group consistingof iron, nickel and cobalt.

In some examples, each of the flux barriers includes an electricallyconductive layer of the second material, and an electrically conductivelayer of a third material at least partially forming an outer surface ofthe rotor.

In some embodiments, the second material contains at least one percent,in some cases five percent, or in some cases 15 percent, by massfraction, of an element selected from the group consisting of copper,aluminum, brass, silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth,graphene, and carbon-nanotubes.

In some arrangements, each flux barrier includes multiple, discretelayers extending parallel to the nominal gap and forming interlayerinterfaces of differing materials. In some examples, one of thediffering materials includes or is copper and another of the differingmaterials includes or is nickel.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each has across-sectional shape that includes two spaced apart projectionsextending away from the nominal gap, and a surface layer connecting thetwo projections. In some cases, the flux barriers having thecross-sectional shape each further includes magnetically permeablematerial disposed between the two projections and under the surfacelayer.

In some cases, the second material of each flux barrier forms anelectrically conductive loop about a respective core of a core materialmore magnetically permeable than the second material. The core materialmay be ferromagnetic. In some configurations, the core material and thefirst material form contiguous portions of a single stack of plates.

In some examples, the loop forms a portion of an outer surface of therotor bounding the nominal gap. For example, the core may form a portionof the outer surface of the rotor surrounded by the loop.

In some motors, the loop is disposed beneath a surface of the passivemagnetic component bounding the nominal gap and formed of the firstmaterial.

In some motors, the loop defines a capacitance, which may be formed at adiscrete location along the loop, such as by a non-conductive break inthe loop.

The loop preferably has a resonant frequency in a transmissible range ofthe first material.

In some embodiments, the active magnetic component is a stator of themotor, and the passive magnetic component is a rotor of the motor. Insome examples, the nominal gap is a radial gap at least partiallybounded by a radially outer surface of the rotor. In some otherexamples, the nominal gap is an axial gap perpendicular to a rotationalaxis of the rotor.

In some cases, each passive pole and/or each active pole has multipleteeth defining recesses therebetween.

In some cases, each active pole has flux shields extending alongopposite edges of the pole and formed of a material having a greaterelectrical conductivity than material of the stator pole disposedbetween the flux shields.

In some examples, the motor is a linear motor.

According to another aspect of the invention, an electric motor includesan active magnetic component defining multiple active poles withassociated electrical windings, and a passive magnetic component movablewith respect to the active magnetic component and having multiplepassive poles of magnetically permeable pole material. The active andpassive magnetic components define therebetween a nominal magnetic gapbetween the active poles and the passive poles. The passive magneticcomponent has flux barriers connecting adjacent passive poles of thepassive magnetic component, the flux barriers each including anelectrically conductive material differing from the magneticallypermeable pole material and defining at least one electricallyconductive path about magnetically permeable core material. The fluxbarriers are electrically isolated from one another external to the polematerial, and adjacent flux barriers are arranged such that anyconductive path defined within the electrically conductive material ofone flux barrier does not encircle any portion of any conductive pathdefined within the electrically conductive material of another fluxbarrier.

Preferably, the core material is more magnetically permeable than theelectrically conductive material.

In some cases, the core material and pole material have identicalmaterial properties.

In some examples, the flux barriers extend into adjacent pole pairs.

In some motors, the flux barriers each include at least one loop of theelectrically conductive material spanning a magnetically active extentof the passive magnetic component. In some cases, each flux barrier hasmultiple loops of electrically conductive material each isolated fromone another external to the pole material and core material.

In some embodiments, each flux barrier contains at least 20 percent, insome cases 40 percent, or in some cases 60 percent, by mass fraction, ofan element, or combination of elements, selected from the groupconsisting of iron, nickel and cobalt.

In some cases, each flux barrier contains at least one percent, in somecases five percent, or in some cases 15 percent, by mass fraction, of anelement selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, brass,silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, andcarbon-nanotubes.

In some examples, the core material is ferromagnetic. In somearrangements, the core material and pole material comprise contiguousportions of a single stack of plates.

The loop, in some motors, forms a portion of an outer surface of thepassive magnetic component bounding the nominal gap. The core may form aportion of the outer surface of the passive magnetic componentsurrounded by the loop.

The loop may be disposed beneath a surface of the passive magneticcomponent bounding the nominal gap and formed of a first material.

In some cases, the loop defines a capacitance, such as a capacitanceformed at a discrete location along the loop.

Preferably, the loop has a resonant frequency in a transmissible rangeof the first material.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each has anelectrically conductive layer of finite width (in a direction ofrelative motion between the passive and active magnetic components), andof finite thickness (perpendicular to the nominal gap), crossingmultiple interfaces of the stack and having an exposed surface forming asurface of the passive magnetic component at the gap.

In some applications, the width of the layer is more than two times, insome cases more than five times, in some cases more than 10 times thethickness of the layer.

In some cases, the layer is formed of a material having an electricalcurrent skin depth greater than the layer thickness.

The layer may be disposed within a channel defined by the firstmaterial.

In some cases, the nominal gap is thinner at the layer than adjacent thelayer.

In some motors, the active magnetic component is a stator of the motor,and the passive magnetic component is a rotor of the motor. The nominalgap may be a radial gap at least partially bounded by a radially outersurface of the rotor, or an axial gap perpendicular to a rotational axisof the rotor.

In some embodiments, each passive magnetic component pole and/or eachactive magnetic component pole has multiple teeth defining recessestherebetween.

In some examples, each active magnetic component pole has flux shieldsextending along opposite edges of the pole and formed of a materialhaving a greater electrical conductivity than material of the activemagnetic component pole disposed between the flux shields.

In some cases, the motor is a linear motor.

According to another aspect of the invention, an electric motor includesan active magnetic component having a first surface defining multipleactive poles with associated electrical windings, and a passive magneticcomponent having a second surface movable with respect to the firstsurface and spaced from the first surface to define a gap. The secondsurface has a series of spaced-apart pole surface regions of a firstmaterial, separated by inter-pole surface regions of the second surface.The passive magnetic component includes magnetically permeable materialdefining internal paths connecting respective adjacent pairs of the polesurface regions on opposite sides of respective inter-pole surfaceregions, which include an electrically conductive, low energy productsecond material and are each electrically isolated from one anotherexternal to the magnetically permeable material.

By ‘low energy product’ we mean a material that has an energy product(B×H) that is less than 100 kilo-Joules per cubic meter. Energy productis also understood to be the product of remanence and coercive force.Generally, permanent magnet materials used in PM motors do not have lowenergy products.

In some embodiments, the magnetically permeable material forms a stackof layers of ferromagnetic material separated from one another, at leastat the pole surface regions, by interfaces less electrically conductivethan the ferromagnetic material.

In some examples, the passive magnetic component includes bars of athird material, each bar underlying a respective inter-pole surfaceregion within the passive magnetic component and extending across thecurrent-inhibiting interfaces. The third material may be or include, forexample, iron, nickel and cobalt. Preferably, the third material has ahigher magnetic permeability than the second material.

In some configurations, the second material extends between one side ofthe bar and edges of the layers of ferromagnetic material.

In some motors, the second material has a magnetic permeability lowerthan that of the first material.

In some embodiments, the second material of at least one of theinter-pole surface regions extends into the passive magnetic componentto an overall depth, from the second surface, of between about 1 and 50mm, in some cases between 2 and 25 mm, or in some cases between 5 and 15mm.

In some arrangements, the second material of at least one of theinter-pole surface regions has an extent in the first direction andextends into the passive magnetic component to an overall depth, fromthe second surface, that is between 2 and 2000 percent (or in some casesbetween 5 and 500 percent, or in some cases between 10 and 200 percent)of that extent.

In some cases, the second surface is movable with respect to the firstsurface along a first direction, and the inter-pole surface regions arecontinuous in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction,across an entire magnetically active extent of the pole surface regions.

In some motors, the magnetically permeable material forms a stack oflayers of ferromagnetic material, each layer extending in the firstdirection.

In some cases, the second material includes, or essentially consists of,copper.

In some motors, the passive magnetic component is a rotor and the activemagnetic component is a stator. The inter-pole surface regions and polesurface regions may together form a cylindrical surface of the rotor,for example, with the gap being a radial gap between the rotor andstator. Or the inter-pole surface regions and pole surface regions maytogether form an end surface of the rotor, with the gap being an axialgap between the rotor and stator. In some cases, the end surface isperpendicular to an axis of rotation of the rotor.

In some embodiments, the inter-pole surface regions each further includemagnetically permeable core material surrounded by the second material.In some cases, the core material is the same material as the firstmaterial.

In some examples, the pole surface regions of the second surface defineslots therebetween, and the inter-pole surface regions of the secondsurface are formed by the second material disposed within the slots.Preferably, the slots extend at a non-zero angle (such as 90 degrees) toa direction of relative motion between the first and second surfaces. Insome cases, the second material is secured to the first material withinthe slots. In some examples, the slots are filled with second material,and/or the second material is in contact with the first material onopposite sides of the slots.

In some examples, the pole surface regions include edge surface regionsof a stack of plates stacked such that the slots cross several plates ofthe stack. Preferably, the second material in each slot crosses severalplates of the stack, and/or is in direct contact with each of the platesof the stack.

The second material preferably has a greater electrical conductivitythan the first material.

In some motors, each of the inter-pole surface regions consistsessentially of the second material.

The second material contains, in some examples, 20 percent, in somecases 40 percent, or in some cases 60 percent, by mass fraction, of anelement, or combination of elements, selected from the group consistingof iron, nickel and cobalt.

In some examples, the second material contains at least one percent, insome cases five percent, or in some cases 15 percent, by mass fraction,of an element selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum,brass, silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, andcarbon-nanotubes.

In some embodiments, the inter-pole surface regions include surfaces offlux barriers disposed between the pole surface regions.

In some cases, each flux barrier has discrete layers extending parallelto the nominal gap and forming interlayer interfaces of differingmaterials, such as copper and nickel.

In some examples, at least some of the flux barriers each has across-sectional shape that includes two spaced apart projectionsextending away from the nominal gap, and a surface layer connecting thetwo projections, such as with magnetically permeable material disposedbetween the two projections and under the surface layer.

In some configurations, the second material of each inter-pole surfaceregion forms an electrically conductive loop about a respective core ofa core material more magnetically permeable than the second material. Insome cases, the core material is ferromagnetic. In some cases, the corematerial and the first material are contiguous portions of a singlestack of plates. In some examples, the core forms a portion of thesecond surface surrounded by the loop. The loop may be spaced from thesecond surface, and/or may define a capacitance, such as a capacitanceis formed at a discrete location along the loop. Preferably, the loophas a resonant frequency in a transmissible range of the first material.

In some motors, each pole surface region (and/or each pole of the activemagnetic component) has multiple teeth defining recesses therebetween.

In some examples, each pole of the active magnetic component has fluxshields extending along opposite edges of the pole and formed of amaterial having a greater electrical conductivity than material of thepole of the active magnetic component disposed between the flux shields.

In some cases, the motor is a linear motor.

According to another aspect of the invention, an electric drive systemincludes a reluctance motor and a motor controller. The reluctance motorincludes an active magnetic component defining multiple active poleswith associated electrical windings, and a passive magnetic componenthaving multiple passive poles and movable with respect to the activemagnetic component and defining, together with the active magneticcomponent, a nominal gap between the active poles and the passive poles.The motor controller has multiple switches coupled to respectiveelectrical windings or sets of windings of the active magneticcomponent, and is configured to (a) sequentially operate the switchesfor respective pole energization duty cycles to generate magnetic fluxacross the nominal gap between the active poles and passive poles; and(b) during an energization duty cycle of each active pole, to pulsecurrent through the winding of the active pole, including a sequence ofat least three pulses during which sequence windings of adjacent activepoles are not energized. The electrical windings of the motor areconfigured such that a ratio of maximum and minimum current through thewinding of an energized active pole during current pulsing is at least4:1.

In some embodiments, the motor controller is configured to pulse currentduring the energization duty cycle of each active pole at a pulsefrequency of between 2 Hz and 1 MHz, in some cases between 10 Hz and 20kHz, and in some cases between 100 Hz and 5 kHz.

In some examples, the motor controller is configured to maintain pulsefrequency during motor speed changes, up to at least a motor speed atwhich an energization duty cycle frequency for each active pole is atleast one-half the pulse frequency.

For some applications, the motor controller is configured to pulsecurrent only below a motor speed corresponding to one pulse perenergization duty cycle.

In some cases, at least one of the electrical windings has multiplecoils conductively connected in parallel and wound about a common core.

In some cases, at least one of the electrical windings is a winding ofbraided wire.

In some embodiments, the active magnetic component is a stator and thepassive magnetic component is a rotor movable with respect to the statorby rotation about a rotor axis. The rotor may be disposed within thestator. The nominal gap may be a radial gap at least partially boundedby a radially outer surface of the rotor, or an axial gap perpendicularto the rotor axis, for example.

In some examples, the passive magnetic component further includes fluxbarriers between adjacent passive poles, the flux barriers each havingan electrical conductivity higher than the passive poles. The fluxbarriers are electrically isolated from one another external to thepassive poles.

In some cases, the passive poles are formed by a stack of layers ofmagnetically permeable material. At least some of the flux barriers mayeach include an electrically conductive bar crossing multiple layers ofthe stack. In some cases, the bar contains at least 20 percent, in somecases 40 percent, or in some cases 60 percent, by mass fraction, of anelement, or combination of elements, selected from the group consistingof iron, nickel and cobalt. Each of the flux barriers with anelectrically conductive bar may further include an electricallyconductive layer of a different material than the bar and at leastpartially forming an outer surface of the passive magnetic component. Insome examples, the bar contains at least one percent, in some cases fivepercent, or in some cases 15 percent, by mass fraction, of an elementselected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, brass, silver,zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, and carbon-nanotubes.In some configurations, the bar has discrete layers extending parallelto the nominal gap and forming interlayer interfaces of differingmaterials, such as copper and nickel.

The bar may have an exposed surface facing the nominal gap.

In some cases, each of the flux barriers with an electrically conductivebar includes at least two electrically conductive bars electricallyconnected to each other at opposite ends of the stack to form aconductive loop.

In some embodiments, at least some of the flux barriers each has ashape, in cross-section taken parallel to the layers of the stack, thatincludes two spaced apart projections extending away from the nominalgap, and a surface layer connecting the two projections. The twoprojections may be disposed on opposite sides of a portion of the stack.

In some configurations, at least some of the flux barriers each includesan electrically conductive layer of finite width in a direction ofrelative motion between the passive magnetic component and the activemagnetic component, and of finite thickness perpendicular to the nominalgap, crossing multiple layers of the stack and having an exposed surfaceforming a surface of the passive magnetic component at the gap. In someapplications, the width of the layer is more than two times, in somecases more than five times, and in some cases more than 10 times thethickness of the layer.

The layer may be formed of a material having an electrical current skindepth greater than the layer thickness, and/or may be disposed within achannel defined by the magnetically permeable material. In some cases,the nominal gap is thinner at the layer than adjacent the layer.

In some embodiments, each flux barrier includes an electricallyconductive material forming a loop about a core of a core material moremagnetically permeable than the electrically conductive material. Thecore material may be ferromagnetic, and/or the core material and themagnetically permeable material of the passive poles may be contiguousportions of the laminated stack of plates.

In some cases, the loop forms a portion of an outer surface of thepassive magnetic component bounding the nominal gap.

In some cases, the core forms a portion of the outer surface of thepassive magnetic component surrounded by the loop.

The loop may be disposed beneath a surface of the passive magneticcomponent bounding the nominal gap and including edges of the layers ofthe stack.

In some examples, the loop defines a capacitance, such as a capacitanceformed at a discrete location along the loop. Preferably, the loop has aresonant frequency in a transmissible range of the magneticallypermeable material of the passive poles

In some embodiments, the passive magnetic component further includesflux barriers connecting adjacent passive poles of magneticallypermeable pole material, the flux barriers each having an electricallyconductive material differing from the pole material and defining atleast one electrically conductive path about magnetically permeable corematerial. Preferably, the flux barriers are electrically isolated fromone another external to the pole material, and adjacent flux barriersare arranged such that any conductive path defined within theelectrically conductive material of one flux barrier does not encircleany portion of any conductive path defined within the electricallyconductive material of another flux barrier.

In some cases, each passive pole and/or each active pole has multipleteeth defining recesses therebetween.

In some examples, each active pole has flux shields extending alongopposite edges of the active pole and formed of a material having agreater electrical conductivity than material of the active poledisposed between the flux shields.

In some applications, the ratio of maximum and minimum current is atleast 7:1. In some instances, the ratio of maximum and minimum currentis at least 10:1

Another aspect of the invention features a method of driving an electricmotor. The method includes:

(a) energizing a first active pole of a series of active poles disposedalong an air gap between the series of active poles and a passivemagnetic component having a series of passive poles disposed along theair gap, by pulsing current through an electrical winding associatedwith the first active pole, including a sequence of at least threepulses during which sequence windings of adjacent active poles of theseries of active poles are not energized; and then

(b) energizing a second active pole of the series of active poles, bypulsing current through an electrical winding associated with the secondactive pole, including a sequence of at least three pulses during whichsequence the winding of the first active pole is not energized, causingcurrent to pass through the electrical winding associated with thesecond active pole according to a current waveform in which a ratio of amaximum current to a minimum current during pulsing of current throughthe electrical winding associated with the second active pole is atleast 4:1.

In some examples, energizing the first active pole includes pulsingcurrent at a pulse frequency of between 2 Hz and 1 MHz, in some casesbetween 10 Hz and 20 kHz, and in some cases between 100 Hz and 5 kHz.

In some cases, energizing the first active pole and then energizing thesecond active pole generates a first force between the first active poleand a passive pole across the air gap from the first active pole, and asecond force between the second active pole and a passive pole acrossthe air gap from the second active pole.

In some instances, the first and second forces induce a relative motionbetween the active poles and the passive poles. The relative motion mayinclude a motion of the passive magnetic component with respect to theactive poles.

In some cases, the passive magnetic component is a rotor of the motor,and the relative motion includes rotation of the rotor.

Some examples of the method also include detecting rotor speed andcontrolling a frequency of the pulsed current as a function of thedetected rotor speed.

Some examples also include maintaining current pulse frequency duringrotor speed changes, up to at least a rotor speed at which a frequencyat which each active pole is energized is at least one-half the pulsefrequency.

In some cases, current is pulsed through the electrical windingsassociated with the first and second poles only below a rotor speedcorresponding to one pulse per pole energization.

In some examples, the method includes, after energizing the secondactive pole, energizing a third active pole of the series of activepoles, disposed on an opposite side of the second active pole than thefirst active pole, by pulsing current through an electrical windingassociated with the third active pole, including a sequence of at leastthree pulses during which sequence the windings of the first and secondactive poles are not energized.

In some embodiments the method further includes, after energizing thethird active pole, again energizing the first active pole by pulsingcurrent through the electrical winding associated with the first activepole, and then again energizing the second active pole by pulsingcurrent through the electrical winding associated with the second activepole, and then again energizing the third active pole.

In some instances, pulsing current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole causes current to pass through theelectrical winding associated with the first active pole according to acurrent waveform in which a ratio of a maximum current to a minimumcurrent during pulsing of current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole is at least 4:1, or in some cases,at least 7:1.

In some examples, pulsing current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole includes pulsing current throughmultiple coils conductively connected in parallel and wound about acommon core.

In some cases, pulsing current through the electrical winding associatedwith the first active pole includes operating a first switch to open andclose in multiple cycles between a voltage source and the electricalwinding associated with the first active pole.

In some embodiments, pulsing current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole generates eddy current in a firstflux barrier adjacent a passive pole across the air gap from the firstactive pole, the flux barrier having an electrical conductivity higherthan the passive pole across the air gap.

In some examples, the passive magnetic component further includes asecond flux barrier, with the passive pole across the air gap from thefirst active pole disposed between the first and second flux barriers,and with the first and second flux barriers electrically isolated fromone another external to the passive poles.

In some cases, the passive poles are formed by a stack of layers ofmagnetically permeable material.

In some instances, the eddy current in the first flux barrier acts torepel magnetic flux from the first active pole.

In some configurations, the first flux barrier is disposed between thepassive pole across the air gap from the first active pole and anadjacent passive pole, with the flux barrier forming a conductive loopof an electrically conductive material about a core of a core materialmore magnetically permeable than the electrically conductive material.

In some embodiments, the passive magnetic component further includesflux barriers between adjacent pairs of passive poles of the series ofpassive poles, the flux barriers each comprising an electricallyconductive material differing from material forming the passive polesand defining at least one electrically conductive path aboutmagnetically permeable core material.

In some cases, the flux barriers are electrically isolated from oneanother external to the series of passive poles.

Adjacent flux barriers are preferably arranged such that any conductivepath defined within the electrically conductive material of one fluxbarrier does not encircle any portion of any conductive path definedwithin the electrically conductive material of another flux barrier.

In some examples, the motor has flux shields extending along oppositeedges of each active pole and formed of a material having a greaterelectrical conductivity than material of the active pole disposedbetween the flux shields. In some cases, the flux shields extend intogaps between adjacent electrical windings. The flux shields may extendfrom the air gap to a magnetically permeable yoke connecting adjacentactive poles, for example.

In some cases, the ratio of maximum and minimum current is at least 7:1,or at least 10:1

Several aspects of the invention feature flux barriers to increase theperformance of an electric motor, e.g., in high torque and powerdensities. The flux barriers have dynamic (or transient) diamagneticproperties. By utilizing the flux barriers in the motor, significantgains in torque can be achieved by directing magnetic flux substantiallymore tangential, where the magnetic field is altered by redirecting aradial force (or normal force) along the tangential direction. That is,the average force vector during operation is substantially moretangential where the predominant force vector in traditional motordesigns is radial in nature.

The magnetic permeability of the flux barriers can be controlled byadjusting a magnetic frequency of eddy currents in the flux barriers,e.g., by pulsing current through electrical windings of active poles. Insuch a way, the electric motors can have significantly differentmagnetic properties at different magnetic frequencies: at lowfrequencies, the properties of the flux barriers are ferromagnetic; atmedium to high operational frequencies, the magnetic permeability of theflux barrier can be less than that of air, and the properties of theflux barriers are diamagnetic.

The invention can also create a high reactance circuit where themagnetic field does not permeate through the electromagnetic cycle butis substantially reflected. This can reduce or eliminate flux fringing.Unlike a traditional permanent magnet (PM) motor, substantially zeroflux permeates flux barriers in the motors designed according to theinvention, which can avoid demagnetization (coercive force) andexcessive heat during operation. Moreover, the diamagnetic flux barriersdo not produce any field during operation, so they behave unlike PMmotors because there is an absence of a field entirely, not a field thatexists in a reverse direction that then closes itself.

The invention can be applied to various types of motors to improve theirperformances. The motors can be radial-gap motors or axial-gap motors orlinear motors. The motors can be switched reluctance motors (SRMs),induction motors (IMs), or permanent magnet motors (PMs), for example.

Various examples of the invention disclosed herein can provideparticularly high motor performance with significant torque/force andpower densities, and can be used to provide essentially smooth andefficient output shaft power for propelling vehicles, as well as instationary systems. The design concepts can more effectively increasetorque and power by increasing the saliency ratio of the motor itself,avoiding some of the traditional trade-offs of harnessing one at theexpense of the other. This motor may also obtain higher systemefficiency during cycled operation due to the avoidance of magneticbreaking that can occur with permanent magnet motors under passiveconditions.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an example of an electric drivesystem.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a motor controller including powerswitching.

FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of an example power switch for anelectrical winding.

FIG. 3 illustrates a current profile of pole energization duty cyclesincluding pulsed currents in each duty cycle.

FIG. 4 illustrates a radial-gap motor including a rotor and a stator.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a rotor made of a stack of laminatedplates.

FIG. 7 illustrates a rotor with flux barriers filled in slots betweenadjacent poles.

FIGS. 8A-C illustrate magnetic flux with air between poles at misalignedposition (FIG. 8A), half-aligned position (FIG. 8B), and alignedposition (FIG. 8C).

FIGS. 9A-C illustrate magnetic flux with flux barriers between poles atmisaligned position (FIG. 9A), half-aligned position (FIG. 9B), andaligned position (FIG. 9C).

FIG. 10 illustrates forces with or without flux barriers betweenadjacent poles.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriersincluding an electrically conductive layer on top of magneticallypermeable material in slots between adjacent poles.

FIG. 12 illustrates magnetic flux between stator and rotor of FIG. 11during operation.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriers madeof alternating electrically conductive layer and magnetically permeablelayer in slots between adjacent poles.

FIG. 13A illustrates a magnetic flux path in the rotor of FIG. 13.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriers madeof electrically conductive layer surrounding magnetically permeablematerial in slots between adjacent poles.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriers madeof an electrically conductive loop about a magnetically permeable corebetween adjacent poles (“shielded pole”).

FIG. 15A is a side view of the rotor of FIG. 15.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of another rotor with flux barriers eachmade of a shielded pole with a discrete capacitor.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriers eachmade of an electrically conductive layer casted into an outer surface ofmagnetically permeable material between adjacent poles.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriers eachmade of an electrically conductive layer formed on an outer surface ofmagnetically permeable material between adjacent poles.

FIG. 19 illustrates a motor including a stator and the rotor of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 illustrates effects of magnetic frequency on generated force fordifferent flux barrier materials.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of another rotor with flux barriersincluding electrically conductive bars extending longitudinally alongthe rotor and conductively connected by top conductive layers.

FIG. 22 illustrates the rotor of FIG. 21 without flux barriers.

FIG. 23 illustrates a flux barrier in the rotor of FIG. 21.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view of another rotor with distributed fluxbarriers inside the rotor.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the rotor of FIG. 24 without the fluxbarriers.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view of a flux barrier with multipledistributed portions inside the rotor of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26A illustrates a distributed portion of the flux barrier of FIG.26.

FIG. 27 illustrates multiple, discrete teeth on each pole of a motorwith flux barriers in slots of adjacent rotor poles.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of an axial-gap motor with flux barriersin slots of rotor poles.

FIG. 29 illustrates a rotor in an axial-gap motor with shielded poles asflux barriers between adjacent poles.

FIG. 30 is an open view of the rotor with the shielded poles of FIG. 29.

FIGS. 31-32 are open views of the rotor with the shielded poles of FIG.29.

FIG. 33 is a perspective view of a stator with flux barriers includingelectrically conductive material extending into edges of stator polesand filled in slots between adjacent stator poles.

FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram of the stator of FIG. 33 with respect toa rotor.

FIG. 35 is a perspective view of another stator with flux barriersincluding electrically conductive material formed on edges of statorpoles and filled in slots between adjacent stator poles.

FIG. 36 is a schematic diagram of the stator of FIG. 35 with respect toa rotor.

FIG. 37 is a perspective view of another stator with flux barriersincluding electrically conductive material fit in slots between adjacentstator poles and matched with edges of the stator poles.

FIG. 38 is a schematic diagram of the stator of FIG. 37.

FIG. 39 is a perspective view of an example linear motor including arotor with flux barriers between rotor poles.

FIG. 40 is a schematic diagram of the linear motor of FIG. 39.

FIG. 41 is a perspective view of another example linear motor includingflux barriers filled in multi-teeth stator poles and rotor poles.

FIG. 42 is a schematic diagram of the linear motor of FIG. 41.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Implementations of the present disclosure provide systems, devices, andmethods of using flux barriers to increase performance of electricmotors. Various designs/configurations of flux barriers for the motorsare presented and discussed. The flux barriers are configured to exhibitdiamagnetic properties in operational frequencies, such that magneticflux through a magnetic gap between active magnetic component (e.g.,stator) and passive magnetic component (e.g., rotor) can be concentratedand redirected to be substantially more tangential to thereby increasetorque.

Example Electric Drive System

FIG. 1 illustrates an electric drive system 100 that includes anelectric motor 102 and a motor controller 104 coupled to the electricmotor 102. The motor controller 104 is configured to operate theelectric motor 102 to drive a load 110. The load 110 can be anadditional gear train such as a planetary gear set or another motorwhere multiple motors can be linked and operated in parallel.

The electric motor 102 has an output shaft 107 rotatable with respect toa motor housing 105, which is considered to be a datum with respect torotations and other motions of motor components. In use, the outputshaft 107 can be coupled to the load 110 to which the motor 102 canimpart rotary power when electrically activated by appropriateelectrical power and signals from the motor controller 104. The outputshaft 107 may extend through the motor and be exposed at both ends,meaning that rotary power can be transmitted at both ends of the motor.Housing 105 can be rotationally symmetric about the rotation axis ofoutput shaft, but may be of any external shape and can generally includemeans for securing the housing to other structure to prevent housingrotation during motor operation.

The electric motor 102 includes an active magnetic component 106 such asa stator and a passive magnetic component 108 such as a rotor. Forillustration purposes, in the following, stator is used as arepresentative example of the active magnetic component and rotor isused as a representative example of the passive magnetic component.

The rotor 108 is associated with the stator 106 and can be disposedwithin the stator 106, e.g., in an internal rotor radial-gap motor, orparallel to the stator, e.g., in an axial-gap motor, or in a linearmotor. As described more fully below, electrical activity in the stator106, properly controlled, drives motion of the rotor 108. The rotor 108is rotationally coupled to the output shaft 107, such that anyrotational component of resultant rotor motion is transmitted to theoutput shaft 107, causing the output shaft 107 to rotate. The stator 106is fixed to the motor 102 such that during operation the rotor 108 movesabout the stator 106 or parallel to the stator 106.

The stator 106 defines multiple stator poles with associated electricalwindings and the rotor 108 includes multiple rotor poles, as illustratedwith further details in FIG. 4. The rotor 108 defines, together with thestator 106, a nominal air gap between the stator poles and the rotorpoles, as illustrated with further details in FIG. 5 below. The rotor108 is movable with respect to the stator 106 along a motion direction.As illustrated in FIG. 2, the stator 106 has multiple independentlyactivatable windings 132 spaced apart circumferentially about the rotor108. The multiple adjacent windings 132 of the stator 106 areactivatable simultaneously as a winding set, and the stator 106 caninclude multiple such multi-winding sets spaced about the stator 106.The motor 102 may also include a winding controller 130 with a set ofswitches 134 operable to activate the windings 132 of the stator 106.The switches 134 can be semiconductor switches, e.g., transistors suchas metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Thewinding controller 130 is coupled to gates of the switches 134 andoperable to send a respective control voltage to each switch 134. Thecontrol voltage can be a direct current (DC) voltage. The windingcontroller 130 can be in the motor controller 104.

While only three switches are shown in FIG. 2, it will be understoodthat the motor controller 104 can have a switch for each stator pole, ormultiple switches to energize multiple coils. Adjacent pole pairs may bewired in series via a common switch, but in such cases theinstantaneously faster of the two moving rotors can generate a slightlylarger counter-electromotive force (EMF) or back-EMF and instantaneouslydraw more relative electrical power as compared to the slower pole,thereby providing additional acceleration and separation of relativevelocities. Higher frequency excitation can decrease effects of lowfrequency harmonic ripple during operation. The switches 134 can bewired in parallel to balance relative speed between multiple rotors in anested configuration by using parallel inductive load reactors. Incertain embodiments with nested rotor configurations, individual rotorsin the system can be driven individually and any harmonic frequency maybe bypassed from one rotor to another by decreasing the loading on agiven rotor. In other embodiments, rotors can be nested as pairs tobalance the force between an inner and outer ring locally.

FIG. 2B shows another example power switch 200 for an individualelectrical winding 132. The power switch 200 can have an H-bridgecircuit including four switching elements 202 a, 202 b, 202 c, 202 d,with the electrical winding 132 at the center, in an H-likeconfiguration. The switching elements 202 a, 202 b, 202 c, 202 d can bebi-polar or FET transistors. Each switching element 202 a, 202 b, 202 c,202 d can be coupled with a respective diode D1, D2, D3, D4. The diodesare called catch diodes and can be of a Schottky type. The top-end ofthe bridge is connected to a power supply, e.g., a battery V_(bat), andthe bottom-end is grounded. Gates of the switching elements can becoupled to the winding controller 130 which is operable to send arespective control voltage signal to each switching element. The controlvoltage signal can be a DC voltage signal or an AC (alternating current)voltage signal.

The switching elements can be individually controlled by the controller130 and can be turned on and off independently. In some cases, if theswitching elements 202 a and 202 d are turned on, the left lead of thestator is connected to the power supply, while the right lead isconnected to ground. Current starts flowing through the stator,energizing the electrical winding 132 in a forward direction. In somecases, if the switching elements 202 b and 202 c are turned on, theright lead of the stator is connected to the power supply, while theleft lead is connected to ground. Current starts flowing through thestator, energizing the electrical winding 132 in a reverse, backwarddirection. That is, by controlling the switching elements, theelectrical winding 132 can get energized/activated in either of twodirections.

The motor controller 104, e.g., the winding controller 130, can beconfigured to sequentially operate the switches 134 or 200 forrespective pole energization duty cycles to generate magnetic fluxacross the air gap between the stator poles and rotor poles, asdescribed with further details in FIGS. 8A-8C. The switches can becontrolled to sequentially energize stator poles to create a localattraction force pulling on the rotor. Such a sequential energization(or activation) can cause a rotation of the rotor 108, the output shaft107, and the load 110.

As discussed with further details below, various types andconfigurations of flux barriers can be implemented in the rotor 108and/or the stator 106. The flux barriers generally have greaterdiamagnetic properties than air during operation.

In some examples, a flux barrier is made of a single material, such asaluminum, copper, brass, silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite,bismuth, graphene, or carbon-nanotubes. In some examples, ferromagneticcombinations of materials, such as copper-iron, nickel-iron, lead-iron,brass-iron, silver-iron, zinc-iron, gold-iron, bismuth-iron,aluminum-iron, pyrolytic graphite-iron, graphene-iron,carbon-nanotubes-iron, or Alinco (aluminum-nickel-cobalt) alloys can beused as a flux barrier, in many cases with an electric conductivityhigher than ferromagnetic material (e.g., iron) making up the rotorpoles. In some cases, the flux barrier, e.g., made of copper-iron, hasan effective magnetic permeability lower than the ferromagneticmaterial. In some cases, the flux barrier, e.g., made of nickel-iron,has an effective magnetic permeability higher than the ferromagneticmaterial. In some examples, the flux barrier is constructed as ashielded pole of an electrically conductive material forming a loopabout a core of a core material more magnetically permeable than theelectrically conductive material. Due to the electrically conductivematerial of the loop, the shielded pole can also have an effectiveelectric conductivity higher than the core material (which may be, e.g.,iron).

Another material property of interest, which we refer to as the EMFShielding Factor, is the quotient of electrical conductivity andmagnetic permeability (e.g., Siemens per Henry). The EMF ShieldingFactors of two materials may be determined simultaneously by placingequally sized samples of the materials on a non-conductive support andmoving them between two parallel Helmholtz coils with a diameter greaterthan the samples, such that their primary plane of conduction (e.g., theorientation of the plane as is experienced during operation in amagnetic system) is perpendicular to the magnetic fields produced duringexcitation of the Helmholtz coils. For a given excitation waveform(e.g., voltage, shape, and frequency) the current of the Helmholtz coilswill be proportional to the EMF Shielding Factor of the material betweenthe coils, such that an increase in the EMF Shielding Factor will beobserved as an increase in the current during constant excitation.

As noted above and discussed with further details below, the fluxbarrier is configured to be diamagnetic. The magnetic permeability ofthe flux barrier can be controlled by adjusting a magnetic frequencythrough the flux barrier. In such a way, the motor can havesignificantly different magnetic properties at different magneticfrequency: at low frequencies, the flux barrier may have a magneticpermeability at or near ferromagnetic; at medium to high operationalfrequencies, the magnetic permeability of the flux barrier is preferablyless than that of air, and the properties of the flux barrier arediamagnetic.

As illustrated with further details in FIGS. 9A-9C, implementing thediamagnetic material or structure in the rotor and/or the stator canoffer a means to better concentrate magnetic flux during operation ofthe motor. Specifically, when the stator and rotor poles are positionedin a perfectly unaligned state, significant internal electromagneticreflection (due to the diamagnetic properties of the flux barrier)significantly inhibits magnetic communication through the flux barrier.The flux shielding can be significantly greater than if the flux barrierwere replaced with an air slot between adjacent poles, as in someconventional motors. This diamagnetic shielding causes the flux barriersto effectively push the rotor while the reluctance of theelectromagnetic poles pull the rotor. This effect allows more energy percycle to be produced from the motor system.

To operate the diamagnetic flux barrier under operational frequencies,as illustrated in FIG. 3, during an energization duty cycle of eachactive pole the motor controller 104 is configured to pulse a currentthrough the winding of the pole at a pulse frequency. Unlike inductionmotors that pulse each pole once in succession at low speeds, motorcontroller 104 pulses the current multiple times for a single pole atlow speeds. Such multiple pulses to the same pole, before pulsing asubsequent pole, make up one energization duty cycle. In some examples,the motor controller pulses current through the winding of an activepole during an energization duty cycle of the pole, including a sequenceof at least 3 pulses, during which sequence the windings of adjacentactive poles are not energized. The electrical circuit including theelectrical windings of each pole is configured such that a ratio ofmaximum and minimum current through the winding of an energized poleduring current pulsing is at least 4:1, in some cases at least 7:1, orin some cases even at least 10:1. The minimum current through thewinding between pulses may be as low as zero.

The pulsed current causes alternating magnetic intensities, e.g.,magnetic fields, which induce eddy currents in the diamagnetic fluxbarrier. For a given flux barrier material, the higher the pulsefrequency the greater the eddy current. The induced eddy currentgenerates a secondary magnetic field opposing the applied alternatingmagnetic field, thereby producing a repelling force. As illustrated withmore details in FIGS. 9A-9C and 10, the repelling force can concentrateand redirect the magnetic flux substantially more tangentially along adirection of relative motion between the rotor and the stator, totherefore increase the force available to do work. Also, flux barriershaving different materials or designs can have different diamagneticproperties. The higher the diamagnetic property of the flux barrier, thegreater the induced eddy current at a given magnetic (pulse) frequency.Thus, the generated horizontal force is with a function of the magneticfrequency and the structure of the flux barrier, as discussed in furtherdetail below with respect to FIG. 20.

The magnetic frequency for the diamagnetic flux barrier (and thegenerated horizontal force) is determined by the pulse frequency of thecurrent through the winding of the pole during the energization dutycycle for each active pole. The pulse frequency can be, for example, insome cases between 2 Hz and 1 MHz, in some cases between 10 Hz and 20kHz, and in some cases between 100 Hz and 5 kHz. In some cases, themotor controller is configured to maintain pulse frequency during motorspeed changes, up to at least a motor speed at which an energizationduty cycle frequency for each active pole is at least one-half the pulsefrequency. In some cases, the motor controller is configured to pulsecurrent only below a motor speed corresponding to one pulse perenergization duty cycle. In some implementations, at least one of theelectrical windings includes multiple coils conductively connected inparallel and wound about a common core. Such electrical winding can havea low reactance, enabling faster decay of current between pulses.

Example Motors

FIG. 4 illustrates an example motor 400 including a stator 410 and arotor 420. The motor 400, the stator 410, and the rotor 420 can be theelectric motor 102, the stator 106, and the rotor 108 of FIG. 1,respectively. The motor 400 is a radial-gap motor such as a switchedreluctance motor (SRM), and the rotor 420 is disposed within the stator410. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 4.

The stator 410 features a series of circumferentially spaced-apartstator poles 412 each including a stator core 414 and associatedelectrical windings 416 surrounding the stator core 414. The stator 410may have, for example, a plurality of stator projections that mayprotrude from a stator back plate 402 (e.g., a yoke or back iron),thereby creating stator slots 418 and stator cores 414. Between adjacentstator poles 412, there exists a slot 418. The stator cores 414 may beof one continuous material or a combination of discrete componentsassembled in the motor. While a continuous material may provide greaterdimensional consistency with zero air permitted into the statorassembly, a series of discrete stator poles maintained in mechanicalalignment by a stator housing may enable efficient manufacturing andassembly. The terminal ends of the stator projections may be diffuse,straight or inferior with respect to the stator projections and backiron or yoke. In this example, the stator projections are straight andof constant cross-section from the yoke to their distal end at an airgap 430 defined between the stator 410 and the rotor 420, as illustratedin FIG. 5.

The stator poles 412 enable electromagnetic communication between thepower electronics and the stator core 414, with electrical isolationbetween pole windings. The electrical winding 416 can include anelectrically conductive coil of wire, such as insulated or enameledmagnet wire, or a plurality of welded electrically conductive bars, suchas insulated copper bars. The electrical windings 416 can include awinding of braided wire such as Litz wire. The Litz wire may be used forhigher frequency operation while other configurations such as square orflat wire may be used to increase winding density and increase skineffect. Each electrical winding 416 can include multiple coilsconductively connected in parallel and wound about a common stator core414.

The rotor 420 also has a series of circumferentially spaced-apart rotorpoles 422 that define slots 423 therebetween. The rotor 420 has asurface 402 movable with respect to a surface 401 of the stator 410 in amotion direction. The slots 423 extend at a non-zero angle, e.g., at 90degree, to the motion direction. The surface 402 of the rotor 420 isspaced from the surface 401 of the stator 410 to define the air gap 430between the stator poles 412 and the rotor poles 422. It is noted thatthe air gap 430 may be filled with another fluid other than air.

The air gap 430 can be maintained as consistent throughout operation. Inthe motors described below, the stator poles 412 and the rotor poles 422should maintain a non-zero air gap to prevent catastrophic damageresulting from contact of the rotor poles 422 relative to the statorpoles 412. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the air gap 430 has a depth Dgperpendicular to the motion direction. The depth Dg may be in a range of0.05 to 2.0 millimeters, e.g., for motors with a power under 250kilowatts (kW). The rotor pole 422 can have a width W1 along the motiondirection, and the rotor slot 423 can have a width W2 along the motiondirection and a depth Ds perpendicular to the motion direction. Asdiscussed with further details below, the size of the air gap 430 canaffect the generated horizontal force. In some examples, the slots 423have a preferred depth Ds of 50 to 500 times of that of the air gap 430(Dg) and a preferred width W2 at the surface 402 of 25 to 100 times ofthe depth Dg of the air gap 430. As discussed with further detailsbelow, flux barriers can be disposed within the slots 423 between therotor poles 422 and/or the slots 418 between the stator poles 412, whichcan alter magnetic flux flow between the stator 410 and the stator 420and change the performance of the motor 400. In this example, the fluxbarriers fill the slots. The sizes of the air gap 430 and the slots 423can affect the performance of the motor 400.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an example rotor core 600 made of astack of laminated layers 601 of ferromagnetic material. The rotor core600 can be used for the rotor 420 of FIG. 4. The laminated layers 601are separated from one another, at least at a surface of the rotor 600,by interfaces 603 less electrically conductive than the ferromagneticmaterial. Thus, the interfaces are current-inhibiting, as compared tothe ferromagnetic material of the layers. In some cases, the interfaces603 consist of oxidized surfaces of the ferromagnetic material. Forexample, the ferromagnetic material can be iron (Fe), and the interfacescan be made of iron oxide (FeOx). In some cases, the interfaces 603include sheets of insulator material interleaved with the ferromagneticlayers 601. For example, the sheets of insulator material can includesheets of resin film.

The laminated layers 601 define a rotor body 606 having an axial hole605 where an output shaft, e.g., the output shaft 107 of FIG. 1, can beinserted and movable together with the rotor core 600. The laminatedlayers 601 also define a series of spaced-apart rotor poles 602 radiallyprotruding from the rotor body 606 and axially extending parallel to theaxial hole 605. The protruded rotor poles 602 define slots 604 axiallyextending parallel to the axial hole 605.

Example Flux Barriers

In the following, various designs/configurations of flux barriers forelectric motors, including SRMs, axial-gap motors, and linear motors arepresented and discussed.

Example Flux Barrier Having a Conductive Bar

FIG. 7 illustrates an example rotor 700 with flux barriers filling slotsbetween adjacent rotor poles. The rotor 700 can include the rotor core600 of FIG. 6, and the rotor poles 702 can be the rotor poles 602 ofFIG. 6. The rotor poles 702 can be of a stack of layers of ferromagneticmaterial separated from one another by interface less electricallyconductive than the ferromagnetic material.

Adjacent rotor poles 702 define slots, e.g., the slots 604 of FIG. 6.The rotor 700 includes flux barriers 704 between adjacent rotor poles702 and in the slots of the adjacent rotor poles 702. The flux barriers704 each have a electrical conductivity higher than the ferromagneticmaterial. The flux barriers 704 are electrically isolated from oneanother external to the ferromagnetic material of the rotor 700,although they may be electrically connected to one another through therotor material.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, a flux barrier 704 can be in the form of anelectrically conductive bar extending along an axial direction of therotor 700, e.g., parallel to an axial hole 605 of FIG. 6, and crossingmultiple interfaces of the stack of layers. In some examples, the bar isformed of a single material such as aluminum, copper, brass, silver,zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, or carbon-nanotubes.In some examples, the bar contains combinations of materials, such ascopper-iron, nickel-iron, lead-iron, brass-iron, silver-iron, zinc-iron,gold-iron, bismuth-iron, aluminum-iron, pyrolytic graphite-iron,graphene-iron, carbon-nanotubes-iron, or Alinco (aluminum-nickel-cobalt)alloys, such that the bar (e.g., copper-iron) can have an electricconductivity higher than the ferromagnetic material of the rotor core.In some cases, the bar contains at least one percent, in some cases fivepercent, in some cases 15 percent, by mass fraction, of an elementselected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, brass, silver,zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, and carbon-nanotubes.In some cases, the bar contains at least 20 percent, in some cases 40percent, in some cases 60 percent, by mass fraction, of an element, orcombination of elements, selected from the group consisting of iron,nickel and cobalt. The rotor 700 can be fabricated by casting one ormore materials of the flux barriers 704 directly in the slots betweenthe rotor poles 702, such that the slots are filled with the fluxbarriers.

The rotor 700 with the flux barriers 704 in the slots between the rotorpoles 702 can be used as the rotor 420 of FIG. 4 in a motor, e.g., themotor 400 of FIG. 4. The rotor 700, together with a stator, e.g., thestator 410 of FIG. 4, defines a nominal gap, e.g., the gap 630 of FIG.6, between the stator poles and the rotor poles. The bar has an exposedsurface facing the nominal gap. In many cases, the exposed surfaces ofthe bars form a cylindrical surface with the surfaces of the rotorpoles.

Effect of Flux Barriers

FIGS. 8A-C and 9A-C illustrate the effect of flux barriers on magneticflux between stator poles and rotor poles and through the nominal gap.FIGS. 8A-C illustrate magnetic flux without flux barriers (e.g., withair filling the slots) between rotor poles at a fully unaligned position(FIG. 8A), a half-aligned position (FIG. 8B), and a fully alignedposition (FIG. 8C).

When a stator pole 802, e.g., the stator pole 412 of FIG. 4, isenergized, a magnetic field is generated and magnetic flux flows betweenthe stator pole 802 and a rotor pole 804, e.g., the rotor pole 422 ofFIG. 4 or the rotor pole 602 of FIG. 6. The rotor pole 804 is movablewith respect to the stator pole 802 in a motion direction parallel tothe nominal gap 805 defined between the rotor pole 804 and the statorpole 802.

At the fully unaligned position, as illustrated in FIG. 8A, magneticflux 810 flows with an angle with respect to the motion direction. Someportion of the magnetic flux 810 flows to the rotor pole 804 through aslot 803 adjacent to the stator pole 802 and filled with air; someportion of the magnetic flux 810 flows to the rotor pole 804 through aslot 806 adjacent to the rotor pole 804 and filled with air. At thehalf-aligned position, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, magnetic flux 820 hasmore portions flowing through the nominal gap 805 and less portions flowthrough the stator slot 803 and the rotor slot 806. The angle betweenthe magnetic flux 820 and the motion direction becomes larger. At thealigned position, as illustrated in FIG. 8C, magnetic flux 830 flows tothe rotor pole 804 substantially and radially through the nominal gap805. The angle between the magnetic flux 830 and the motion directionbecomes almost 90 degrees.

FIGS. 9A-C illustrate the same three relative rotor-stator positions,but with flux barriers filling the slots between adjacent rotor poles904: with the poles at a fully unaligned position (FIG. 9A), ahalf-aligned position (FIG. 9B), and a fully aligned position (FIG. 9C).When a stator pole 902 is energized, a magnetic field is generated andmagnetic flux flows from the stator pole 902 to a rotor pole 904, andthe rotor pole 904 and the stator pole 902 define a nominal gap 905.

At the unaligned position, as illustrated in FIG. 9A, magnetic flux 910flow with an angle with respect to the motion direction. Some portion ofthe magnetic flux 910 flows to the rotor pole 904 through a slot 903adjacent to the stator pole 902; some portion of the magnetic flux 910flows to the rotor pole 904 through a flux barrier 906 filled in a slotadjacent to the rotor pole 904. However, compared to the magnetic flux810 of FIG. 8A, the portion of magnetic flux through the flux barrier906 is greatly suppressed and deflected to extend more along the nominalgap 905, such that the magnetic flux 810 is concentrated and redirectedmore tangentially along the motion direction. Similarly, at thehalf-aligned position, as illustrated in FIG. 9B, magnetic flux 920 ismore concentrated compared to the magnetic flux 820 of FIG. 8B,particularly the portion of magnetic flux through the flux barrier 906being greatly suppressed and repelled. At the aligned position, asillustrated in FIG. 9C, magnetic flux 930 is similar to the magneticflux 830 and flows substantially through the nominal gap 905 to therotor pole 904.

Under an operational magnetic frequency, the flux barrier exhibitsdiamagnetic properties to repel the magnetic flux to thereby generate arepelling force against the rotor pole. When the stator and rotor polesare positioned in an unaligned state, significant internalelectromagnetic reflection at the flux barrier alters the net directionof magnetic flux between the poles. The diamagnetic shielding at theslot filled with flux barrier effectively pushes the rotor in a desiredmotion direction, while the magnetic attraction between the stator androtor poles pull the rotor in the same direction. In this way, by usingsuch a diamagnetic barrier, the vector of the magnetic field line can bemodified during operation of the motor, such that the radial force isdirected substantially more along the motion direction. This increasesthe proportion of magnetically-induced force that works to propel therotor with respect to the stator. This effect generates more usefulkinetic energy per cycle, from a given input energy from an electricdrive system, e.g., the electric drive system 100 of FIG. 1. Forexample, when the rotor pole travels from the fully unaligned positionto the fully aligned position with respective to the stator pole, thedifference in co-energy for slots with flux barriers is much larger thanthe difference in co-energy for slots without flux barriers such as air,which can also better avoid fringing fields. In other words, theeffective saliency ratio has been increased.

FIG. 10 illustrates net magnetically-induced forces with and withoutflux barriers between adjacent poles. When a stator pole 1012 of astator 1010, e.g., the stator pole 412 of FIG. 4, is energized, amagnetic field is generated and magnetic flux flows from the stator pole1012 to a rotor pole 1022 of a rotor 1020, e.g., the rotor pole 422 ofFIG. 4 or the rotor pole 602 of FIG. 6. The rotor 1020 is movable withrespect to the stator 1010 in a motion direction and defines, togetherwith the stator 1010, a nominal gap 1015.

When there is only air in the slots 1024 between adjacent rotor poles1022, attraction between the stator pole 1012 and the rotor pole 1022causes a net instantaneous pulling force F0 at an angle Θ0 with respectto the motion direction. When there is a flux barrier 906 in the slot1024 between adjacent rotor poles 1022 and/or in slot 1014 betweenadjacent stator poles 1012, attraction between the stator pole 1012 andthe rotor pole 1022 causes a net pulling force F1 at an angle Θ1 withrespect to the motion direction. As discussed above in FIGS. 9A and 9B,the flux barrier can exhibit diamagnetic properties to repel themagnetic flux, effectively generating a repelling force against thestator pole. As a result, the net pulling force F1 is redirected to havea larger component along the motion direction. That is, F1 cos Θ1>F0 cosΘ2, where F1 can be substantially identical to F0. When the rotor pole1022 is at the fully unaligned position, as illustrated in FIG. 9A, theangle is smallest and the horizontal force is the largest. When therotor pole 1022 is at the half-aligned position, as illustrated in FIG.9B, there is the greatest change in reluctance and a maximum torque canbe obtained.

Example Flux Barrier with a Conductive Layer Over a Bar

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of another rotor 1100 with flux barriers1104 in slots between adjacent rotor poles 1102. Similar to the rotor700 of FIG. 7, the rotor poles 1102 is made of a stack of layers offerromagnetic material separated from one another by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material. The interfacescan be current-inhibiting. The flux barriers 1104 each include anelectrically conductive bar 1108 crossing multiple interfaces and areelectrically isolated from one another external to the ferromagneticmaterial. Different from the flux barrier 704 of the rotor 700 of FIG.7, the flux barrier 1104 of rotor 1100 additionally includes anelectrically conductive layer 1106 covering a bar 1108. The electricallyconductive layer 1106 is made of a different material than the bar 1108and can have a higher electrically conductivity than the bar 1108. Insome example, bar 1108 is made of iron, nickel, or cobalt, and theelectrically conductive layer 1106 is made of copper, aluminum, brass,silver, zinc, gold, pyrolytic graphite, bismuth, graphene, orcarbon-nanotubes. The rotor 1100 can be fabricated by casting a materialof the bar 1108 into the slots of the rotor poles 1102 and depositingthe electrically conductive layer 1106 on top of the bar 1108, such asby plating or sputtering.

An outer surface of the rotor 1100 and an outer surface of a stator 1120define a nominal gap 1130, as illustrated in FIG. 12. The rotor 1100 ismovable with respect to the stator 1120 in a motion direction. Theelectrically conductive layer 1106 at least partially forms the outersurface of the rotor 1100. During operation, when a stator pole 1122 ofthe stator 1120 is energized, e.g., by pulsed current in a duty cycle asillustrated in FIG. 3, an alternating magnetic field is generated and acorresponding magnetic flux 1202 flows from the stator pole 1122 to therotor pole 1102 through the nominal gap 1130. The pulsing magnetic fieldinduces an eddy current 1204 in the electrically conductive layer 1106of the flux barrier 1104. The eddy current 1204 can generate a secondarymagnetic field opposing the applied alternating magnetic field, therebyproducing a repelling force to alter the net direction of magnetic flux1202, as discussed above.

The electrically conductive layer 1106 has a finite width W in themotion direction and a finite thickness T from the outer surface of therotor 1100 along a direction perpendicular to the motion direction (orthe nominal gap 1130), crossing multiple interfaces of the stack oflayers. The width W of the layer 1106 is preferably more than two times,in some cases more than five times, and in some cases more than 10 timesthe thickness T of the layer 1106. The bar 1108 can be of greaterthickness than the layer 1106.

In some examples, the thickness T of the layer 1106 is larger than anelectric current skin depth of the material of the layer 1106 at aparticular operational frequency, such that the eddy current 1204 flowsmainly at the skin of the layer 1106 between the outer surface and theskin depth and propagates over a long distance in the layer 1106 alongthe motion direction, towards the adjacent rotor pole 1102. In such away, the magnetic flux 1202 can be concentrated more in the layer 1106and redirected more tangentially to cause a larger horizontal forcealong the motion direction.

Example Flux Barrier Having Pairs of Alternating Layers

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another rotor 1300 with flux barriers1304 in slots between adjacent rotor poles 1302. Similar to the rotor1100 of FIG. 11, the rotor poles 1302 can be made of a stack of layersof ferromagnetic material separated from one another by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material. The fluxbarriers 1304 are electrically isolated from one another external to theferromagnetic material of the rotor 1300. Different from the fluxbarrier 1104 of the rotor 1100 of FIG. 11, each flux barrier 1304 of therotor 1300 is made of multiple pairs of alternating layers 1306 and 1308disposed in slots between adjacent rotor poles 1302. The discrete layers1306 and 1308 extend parallel to the nominal gap and form interlayerinterfaces of differing materials. In a particular example, layer 1306is made of copper and layer 1308 is made of nickel. Layer 1306 can bemore electrically conductive than layer 1308, while layer 1308 can bemore magnetically permeable than layer 1306. The rotor 1300 can befabricated by alternatingly depositing the layers 1306 and 1308 in theslots between rotor poles 1302.

As illustrated in FIG. 13A, each layer 1306 has a finite thickness T1 ina direction perpendicular to the nominal gap and each layer 1308 has afinite thickness T2 in the direction perpendicular to the nominal gap.In some examples, the thickness T1 of the layer 1306 is configured to besmaller than an electrical current skin depth of a material of the layer1306 at a particular operational frequency, and the thickness T2 of thelayer 1308 is configured to be smaller than an electrical current skindepth of a material of the layer 1308 at the particular operationalfrequency. In such a way, as illustrated in FIG. 13A, a magnetic flux1310 flowing from a stator to the rotor 1300 can propagate through themultiple layers 1306 and 1308, causing eddy currents 1312 andaccordingly a secondary magnetic field to be generated in the multiplelayers 1306 and 1308.

Example Flux Barriers Having Shielded Poles

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of another rotor 1400 with flux barriers1404 in slots between adjacent rotor poles 1402. Similar to the rotor1100 of FIG. 11, the rotor poles 1402 is made of a laminated stack oflayers of ferromagnetic material separated from one another byinterfaces less electrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material.The interfaces can be current-inhibiting. The flux barriers 1404 areeach electrically isolated from one another external to theferromagnetic material. Different from the flux barrier 1104 of therotor 1100 of FIG. 11 that has an electrically conductive layer on a topof a bar, the flux barrier 1404 of the rotor 1400 has a layer 1406 ofelectrically conductive material surrounding a core 1408 of a corematerial in the slots between adjacent rotor poles 1402. The corematerial of the core 1408 can be more magnetically permeable than theelectrically conductive material of the layer 1406. The core 1408 can beof the same material as the rotor poles.

The layer 1406 includes three layer portions 1406 a, 1406 b, 1406 c. Thelayer portion 1406 a covers an inter-pole surface region betweenadjacent rotor poles 1402 and forming a portion of an outer surface ofthe rotor 1400. Each core 1408 underlies a respective inter-pole surfaceregion. The inter-pole surface region can be continuous in a directionperpendicular to the motion direction across an entirely magneticallyactive extent of the pole surface regions of the rotor 1400. The layerportions 1406 b, 1406 c extend from the layer portions 1406 a across theinterfaces of the stack of layers and between the adjacent rotor poles1402 and the core 1408 of the flux barrier.

Similar to the layer 1106 of FIG. 11, each layer portion 1406 a, 1406 b,1406 c can have a thickness larger than an electric current skin depthof the electrically conductive material of the layer 1406, such thatmagnetic flux through the layer portion 1406 a is redirected moretangentially towards adjacent rotor poles 1402, and layer portions 1406b and 1406 c act to inhibit or shield magnetic flux between the polesand the core 1408. The layer portion 1406 a has a finite width extendingin the motion direction. The layer portions 1406 b and 1406 c extendinto the ferromagnetic material to an overall depth from the outersurface of the rotor 1400. The overall depth can be between about 1 and50 mm, in some cases between about 2 and 25 mm, and in some casesbetween about 5 and 15 mm, for example, and between 2 and 2000 percent,in some cases between 5 and 500 percent, and in some cases between 10and 200 percent of the width of layer portion 1406 a.

The electrically conductive material of the layer 1406 can includecopper. In some implementations, the core material of the core 1408 andthe ferromagnetic material of the rotor poles 1402 have identicalmaterial properties, e.g., made of iron. The cores 1408 and the rotorpoles 1402 can be contiguous portions of the laminated stack of layers.

In some cases, the rotor 1400 can be fabricated by depositing the corematerial into slots between adjacent poles of a rotor, e.g., the rotor600 of FIG. 6, to form the cores 1408 with gaps between the poles 1402and the adjacent cores 1408 and then depositing the electricallyconductive material into the gaps and the top of the cores 1408 to formthe layer 1406. In some cases, layers of shaped ferromagnetic materialare stacked in alignment to form slots to receive the conductivematerial; and then the electrically conducive material is cast orotherwise deposited into the gaps and on top of the top surface regionto form the electrically conductive layer 1406.

The flux barrier 1404 can be considered as a shielded pole. Eachshielded pole can have a same size as a rotor pole. While at lowfrequency or DC-static conditions there is little differentiationbetween a rotor pole and a shielded pole, under moderate and highfrequency operation, the magnetic reluctance of the shielded poleexceeds the magnetic reluctance of air, which results in a higher torquedensity. Thus, by forming a shielded pole between adjacent rotor poles,the vector of the magnetic field line during operation of reluctancepoles (stator poles and rotor poles) can be uniquely modified, such thatthe magnetic field is substantially more tangential. This allows a motorto utilize the radial force (or the normal force or a radial pressure)as a tangential force, which can be an order of magnitude larger thanthe tangential force. Shielded poles can also be extended to neighboringstator-pole sets to further decrease the flux fringing properties of themotor.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of another rotor 1500 with another exampleof shielded poles as flux barriers 1504 between adjacent rotor poles1502. Each flux barrier 1504 is made of an electrically conductive loop1506 about a magnetically permeable core 1508 between adjacent poles1502. The loop 1506 can be a stack of thin layers of conductive materialseparated by less electrically conductive material of similar magneticpermeability, e.g., layers of copper separated by copper oxide, enamel,aluminum or aluminum oxide. Similar to the rotor 1400 of FIG. 14, therotor poles 1502 can be made of a laminated stack of layers offerromagnetic material separated from one another by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material. The fluxbarriers 1504 form inter-pole surface regions between pole surfaceregions of the rotor poles 1502 and can be considered as surfaceshielded poles. The inter-pole surface regions and the pole surfaceregions define an outer surface (or an end surface) of the rotor 1500.Each core 1508 forms a portion of the outer surface surrounded by arespective loop 1506. Each loop 1506 forms a portion of the cylindricalouter surface of the rotor 1500, as illustrated in FIG. 15A.

The loops 1506 can be made of an electrically conductive, low energyproduct material. For example, the loops 1506 can be made of copper. Thematerial of the core 1508 is more magnetically permeable than thematerial of the loops 1506. The core material can be ferromagnetic,e.g., iron. The core material of the cores 1508 and the ferromagneticmaterial of the rotor poles 1502 can be identical, such as contiguousportions of the stack of layers. In some implementations, rotor 1500 isformed by etching regions of the ferromagnetic material of the stack ofthe layers according to shapes and positions of the loops 1506 and thendepositing/casting electrically conductive material into the etchedregions to form the loops 1506. Alternatively, a flux barrier may beformed of electrically conductive, low energy product material disposedwithin the core 1508 itself.

The conductive loops 1506 of the flux barriers 1504 are non-overlappingand electrically isolated from one another external to the ferromagneticmaterial. The flux barriers 1504 are connected to each other onlythrough the ferromagnetic material. The flux barriers 1504 define atleast one electrically conductive path (e.g., the loops 1506) about thecore material of the cores 1508. By ‘non-overlapping’ we mean thatadjacent flux barriers 1504 are arranged such that any conductive pathdefined within the electrically conductive material of one flux barrierdoes not encircle any portion of any conductive path defined within theelectrically conductive material of another flux barrier 1504.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, the loop 1506 of the flux barrier 1504 canform a closed circuit made of the electrically conductive material,e.g., copper. In some implementations, a flux barrier can be formed as ashielded pole by an open loop of conductive material. For example, FIG.16 is a schematic view of another rotor 1600 with flux barriers 1604between adjacent rotor poles 1602. The flux barrier 1604 is similar tothe flux barrier 1504 of FIG. 15, except that the flux barrier 1604 hasan open loop 1606 with a break 1608, e.g., an air gap, as illustrated inFIG. 16.

The open loop 1606 can be also made of electrically conductive material,e.g., copper. The open loop 1606 defines a capacitance that can beformed at a discrete location along the open loop 1606. For example, twoopposing end surfaces of the open loop 1606 form an air gap 1608,forming a capacitor. The open loop 1606 can be configured to have aresonant frequency in a transmissible range of a magnetically permeablematerial of rotor poles 1602 of the rotor 1600, e.g., iron. In someimplementations, the rotor 1600 is formed by etching regions of themagnetically permeable material according to shapes and positions of theopen loops 1606 and depositing/casting electrically conductive materialinto the etched regions to obtain the loops 1606. The gaps 1608 can beformed during deposition of the conductive material, or may be createdby ablating or otherwise removing a narrow strip of material to formeach gap. Each capacitance gap 1608 preferably spans at least one layerinterface of the stack.

Example Flux Barriers with Surface Layers

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another rotor 1700 with flux barriers1704 between adjacent rotor poles 1702. Each flux barrier 1704 includesan electrically conductive layer 1706 forming an inter-pole surfaceregion between adjacent poles 1702. Similar to the rotor 1500 of FIG.15, the rotor poles 1702 can be made of a laminated stack of layers offerromagnetic material separated from one another by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material. However,different from the flux barrier 1504 of FIG. 15 that has an electricallyconductive loop 1506, the electrically conductive layer 1706 entirelycovers the inter-pole surface region and forms a portion of an outersurface of the rotor 1700. The electrically conductive layer 1706crosses essentially all of the magnetically active plates of the stackand is preferably in direct contact with each of the plates of thestack.

The electrically conductive layer 1706 can be formed beneath the outersurface, e.g., by etching the ferromagnetic material of the stack oflayers to form inter-pole regions and casting electrically conductivematerial into the inter-pole regions.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of another rotor 1800 with flux barriers1804 between adjacent rotor poles 1802. Different from the flux barrier1704 of FIG. 17 that has the electrically conductive layer formedbeneath the outer surface of the rotor 1700, each flux barrier 1804include an electrically conductive layer 1806 formed on a cylindricalouter surface of the rotor 1800.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the electrically conductive layer 1806 has athickness extending from the outer surface towards a nominal gap 1910that is defined by a stator 1900 and the poles 1802 of rotor 1800. Thestator 1900 has an outer surface defining multiple stator poles 1902with associated electrical windings 1904. As the electrically conductivelayer 1806 is formed over the cylindrical outer surface of the rotor1800, it resides within nominal gap 1910, making the clearance betweenrotor and stator lower at the layer 1806 than adjacent the layer 1806.

Effects of Flux Barrier Materials/configurations on Force

FIG. 20 illustrates forces generated by motors having different fluxbarriers (e.g., different materials/configurations) under a range offrequencies. Here force refers to a useful force parallel to a motiondirection in which a rotor is movable with respect to a stator.Frequency refers to a magnetic frequency of an eddy current induced in aflux barrier that can be controlled by a pulse frequency of a currentenergizing stator poles of the stator.

Curve 2002 represents air as a passive material filling slots betweenadjacent rotor poles, where the useful force remains constant across lowfrequencies and eventually drops off rapidly at higher frequencies,e.g., over a core limit at point 2001. Curve 2004 represents a singlematerial fill (e.g., of copper) as a dynamic non-ferromagnetic fluxbarrier, behaving essentially as air at low frequencies but increasingabove a cross-over frequency (at cross-over point 2005). Curve 2006represents a shielded pole (e.g., a looped pole) as a dynamicferromagnetic flux barrier, where, at lower frequencies, e.g., below thecross-over frequency, the useful force is lower than with air, while theforce drastically increases with frequency, e.g., above the cross-overfrequency, faster than that with the straight non-ferromagnetic material(e.g., copper) fill represented by curve 2004. Along curve 2006, point2003 shows a conductive slot reluctance low force limit, point 2005shows a cross-over frequency, and point 2007 shows an air gap limitedpeak force.

To avoid the decrease in force at lower speeds, the motor can beoperated with higher magnetic frequencies, e.g., by pulsing currentthrough each pole winding at low revolutions per minutes (RPMs) tothereby increase the output force. The reason why the force for theshielded pole is lower than air at lower frequencies can be largely dueto the fact that there is an alternative ferromagnetic flux pathresulting in a relative reluctance asymmetry. At higher frequencies, themotor is dominated by a relative inductive shielding that happens at thecross-over frequency. This is the point 2005 where the saliency ratio ofthe shielded pole is equal to the saliency ratio of air—effectively, theskin depth of the shielded pole mimics the skin depth of air. As thefrequency increases, the saliency ratio of the shielded pole continuesto increase.

Curve 2012 represents a non-ferromagnetic superconductor as a straightmaterial fill flux barrier, where a force gain is induced that isgreater than that with air even at relatively low frequencies. In somecases, the flux barrier can be configured such that curve 2006 and/orthe cross-over point 2005 can be moved as far to the left as possible,e.g., by adjusting the material ratio (e.g., the ratio of theelectrically conductive material of the loop to the magneticallypermeable material of the core), the material itself, the layering ofmaterials (e.g., single materials or combination of materials), theorientation of material layers with respect to the magnetic interface,or the geometry (e.g., the depth, width and relative proximity withrespect to the air gap). For example, if the shielded pole for curve2006 is made of copper and rotor core iron of a 10:90 ratio, curve 2006can become curve 2008 with the shielded pole made of copper and rotorcore iron of a 66:33 ratio.

Additionally, the structure of the flux barrier may also affect theperformance of the motor. When the flux barrier is made of pairs ofalternating electrically conductive layer and magnetically permeablelayer (e.g., copper and nickel), e.g., the flux barrier 1304 of FIG. 13,the relationship between the generated force and the frequency can berepresented by curve 2010, which is closer to curve 2012 for thesuperconductor.

Example Flux Barriers Inside Rotor

FIGS. 21-23 show another rotor 2100 with flux barriers 2104 havingelectrically conductive elements beneath the surface of theferromagnetic rotor material. As shown in FIG. 22, a rotor body 2102 ismade of a stack of laminated layers of the ferromagnetic material. Thelaminated layers are separated from one another, at least at a surfaceof the rotor, by interfaces less electrically conductive than theferromagnetic material. The interfaces can be current-inhibiting. Thestack defines holes 2107 extending along its length, crossing theinterfaces.

As shown in FIG. 23, each flux barrier includes a conductive structurehaving at least two electrically conductive bars 2110 (four are shown)that extend through each layer of the stack to cross each interface ofthe stack and are electrically connected to each other at opposite endsof the stack by conductive plates 2108 to form at least one conductiveloop within the rotor. Each conductive bar is inserted into, or castinto, a corresponding longitudinal hole 2107 within the stack of rotorplates, and can then be welded or soldered to end plates 2108. Referringback to FIG. 21, each conductive structure, together with the portion ofthe ferromagnetic plates between and immediately surrounding theconductive bars, forms a flux barrier 2104 between two adjacent rotorpoles 2106.

FIGS. 24-26A show another rotor 2400 with flux barriers 2410 havingconductive elements inside a ferromagnetic material of the rotor.Similar to the rotor 600 of FIG. 6, a rotor body 2402 can be made of astack of laminated layers of the ferromagnetic material. The laminatedlayers are separated from one another, at least at a surface of therotor, by interfaces less electrically conductive than the ferromagneticmaterial. The interfaces can be current-inhibiting. The rotor 2400defines a hole 2401 in a center of the rotor body 2402. The hole 2401can be similar to the hole 605 of FIG. 6, and an output shaft, e.g., theoutput shaft 107 of FIG. 1, can be inserted and movable together withthe rotor 2400.

As shown in FIG. 25, the rotor body 2402 defines a series ofspaced-apart rotor poles 2404 forming radially outermost portions of therotor body, with adjacent poles 2404 defining slots 2406 therebetween.The rotor body 2402 also defines holes 2408 extending in parallel alongits length.

Instead of filling the slots 2406 between adjacent rotor poles 2402,each of the flux barriers 2410 includes electrically conductive elementsforming at least one loop spanning a magnetically active extent of therotor body 2402 below the rotor surface. As illustrated in FIG. 26, theconductive structure of each flux barrier 2410 includes multiple loops2412, 2414, 2416 of electrically conductive material each isolated fromone another external to the ferromagnetic material of the rotor body2402. As illustrated in FIG. 26A, each loop, e.g., loop 2416, includesat least two electrically conductive bars 2418 electrically connected toeach other at opposite ends of the stack by electrically conductiveplates 2420. As assembled, each of the conductive bars extends along acorresponding hole 2408 of the rotor body, as illustrated in FIG. 25.The plates 2420 can have a curved shape with two ends on magneticallyactive extents of adjacent rotor poles 2404. The curved shape can bebased on a shape of the slot 2406. Referring back to FIG. 24, loops2412, 2414, 2416 of the flux barrier 2410 can be arranged in seriestowards the slot 2406. In a sense, the conductive loop structures ofeach flux barrier extend into, or span adjacent portions of, adjacentrotor poles.

The flux barriers 2410 are electrically isolated from one anotherexternal to the ferromagnetic material. Adjacent flux barriers 2410 arearranged such that any conductive path defined within the electricallyconductive material of one flux barrier does not encircle any portion ofany conductive path defined within the electrically conductive materialof another flux barrier. The flux barriers 2410 can function as fluxshields.

During operation, a transient electromagnetic field attempting topenetrate the ferromagnetic material encircled by bars 2418 and 2420(outside bars as well) can cause current to flow in the bars and theresulting current can act to effectively block the flux from penetratingthe encircled region. Magnetic flux can then follow the narrow channelsbetween segments 2416, 2414, and 2412, resulting in paths of lowreluctance flanked by paths of high reluctance. The area encircled bythe flux barriers 2410 is blocked from magnetic communication, whichresults in clear low and high reluctance paths. The force is exerted atthe shielded pole/unshielded region within the rotor, rather than at theair gap between stator and rotor poles (e.g., as illustrated in FIG.15). The interface between an encircled core region and a non-encircledregion can be considered as a pseudo-core interface.

Example Flux Barriers for Poles with Multiple, Discrete Teeth

A toothed stator-rotor interface for a motor can be created to maximizetorque as a function of surface area at the stator-rotor interface.Traditional motors are generally limited by their torque as a functionof surface area due to relatively weak magnetic field interactions. Byincluding multiple, discrete teeth on each pole and effectivelydecreasing the tooth-to-tooth distance of the motor for the same pole,the number of cycles that a pole can be energized for a given distancetraveled increases. More specifically, by putting multiple teeth on asingle pole, the force as a function of surface area can be increased.

Despite achieving higher specific force for a given surface area, higherpower density in such a design may be limited due to significant fluxleakage. One of the primary sources of this flux leakage comes from theair of the slots that are created between the teeth, which becomeprogressively smaller as the number of teeth increases. Accordingly, toincrease motor performance using the motor with multi-teeth poles, theincreased specific force that is created by increasing the number ofteeth can be used at a lower current loading. Under this approach, themotor maintains a relatively low number of total poles in the system butcan provide an increased number of switching cycles by enabling surfacegeometry on each individual pole to provide more electrical cycles perpole arc. More specifically, a given specific force can be generated ina pole with 400-700 amp*turns of magnetomotive force (MMF) whereas atypical pole would require 3,000-4,000 amp*turns of MMF to support thesame force. Because fewer amp*turns require less space, this allows fora motor utilizing a multi-slot approach with proportionally smaller yokeand windings, operated at a higher frequency to achieve gains in torqueand power and torque densities.

The relationship between stator and rotor teeth is preferred in a ratioof 0.6:1 and 1.4:1, more preferably 0.8:1 and 1.2:1. For a conventionalslot, it is preferred that a tooth width to air gap ratio is greaterthan 10:1, more preferably between 30:1 and 100:1 for direct drivetraction applications, and preferably 30:1 for applications requiringhigher speeds. For the stator poles, it is preferred that the number ofteeth per pole fall between 20-90% of the number of teeth per pole thatmaximize the force for the given air gap, more preferably 40-80% of theteeth that maximize the force for a given air gap.

For a given air gap, it is preferable to get the peak force with lessthan the maximum integer number of teeth (e.g., approximately 50-80% ofthe maximum). After the peak force, the gain in force starts toasymptote and becomes relatively negligible. More factors may beconsidered to optimize the force with a number of teeth per hole at aparticular air gap for the motor design. For example, the increased airslots can cause additional flux leakage and a decrease in saliency.Also, fewer, larger poles allow for greater power density and handlehigher current loading further into saturation. Moreover, as discussedbelow, the teeth slots can be filled with diamagnetic material, whichcan also affect motor performance.

For a given pole, the maximum inductance remains approximately the sameas tooth size decreases and the number of teeth increases. However, theminimum inductance increases due to the permeability of air in theincreasingly smaller slots. Thus, total energy per cycle decreases as aresult when the number of teeth per pole increases.

FIG. 27 illustrates a motor 2700 including multiple, discrete teeth oneach pole of the motor. The motor 2700 includes a stator 2710 and arotor 2720. Outer surfaces of the stator 2710 and the rotor 2720 definean air gap 2715. The motor 2700 is similar to the motor 400 of FIG. 4,except that each stator pole 2712 of the stator 2710 includes multipleteeth 2714 with slots 2716 therebetween and each rotor pole 2722 of therotor 2720 includes multiple teeth 2724 with slots 2726 therebetween.Note that there can be slots 2718 between adjacent stator poles 2712,while the rotor 2720 can include continuous alternating tooth 2724 andslot 2726 along the outer surface of the rotor 2720.

Flux barriers can be formed between adjacent rotor teeth 2724 and/oradjacent stator teeth 2714. The flux barriers can be similar to the fluxbarriers 704 of FIG. 7, the flux barriers 1104 of FIG. 11, the fluxbarriers 1304 of FIG. 13, or the flux barriers 1404 of FIG. 14.

The flux barrier material can be an inductive material having greaterdiamagnetic properties than air during operation to increase the totalenergy per cycle. This creates a dynamic magnetic flux barrier. Usingthe impedance of an inductor to provide such diamagnetic propertyresults in a greater saliency ratio during moderate, medium, andhigh-frequency operation, e.g., from 2 Hz to 1 MHz. As discussed above,this can be achieved by using the skin effect of an all-metal singlematerial such as aluminum, copper, brass, silver, zinc, gold, pyrolyticgraphite, bismuth, graphene, or carbon-nanotubes, or, more preferably, asuper conductor. The super conductor can be operated at a frequency of0.5 Hz or above, and copper can be operated at moderate to higherfrequencies of 20 kHz to 1 MHz. In other embodiments, ferromagneticcombinations of materials can be used such as copper-iron, lead-iron,brass-iron, silver-iron, zinc-iron, gold-iron, bismuth-iron,aluminum-iron, pyrolytic graphite-iron, graphene-iron,carbon-nanotubes-iron, or Alinco (aluminum-nickel-cobalt) alloys, whichcan be operated at 100 Hz to 20 kHz. In other embodiments, higherinductance fillings can be used to generate equivalent impedance, suchas constructing a looped pole or shielded pole (e.g., copper-shieldediron pole) at lower frequencies. Such a combination of diamagnetic andferromagnetic materials approximates the properties of a meta-material.Structurally, this slot fill starts to approximate a smooth, continuoussurface of the rotor and stator faces and, as the teeth decrease insize, such slot fill material can serve as mechanical support to preventphysical deformations caused by forces generated in operation.

As the teeth get smaller on a given pole, the slots get closer togetherand the resultant flux leakage causes both the saliency ratio and workper cycle, and thus torque, to decrease. By replacing air with materialsthat approximate a diamagnetic material (e.g., a single diamagneticmaterial or a combination of diamagnetic and ferromagnetic materials),it is possible to treat increasing the number of teeth of the motor asan effective electromagnetic reduction, similar to a gearbox. Whereasenergy per cycle, and thus torque, go down as a result of increasing thenumber of teeth per pole for a given pole size, torque and power densitycan be attained by increasing the saliency ratio using a diamagneticmaterial. A further benefit of the pole design or configuration,especially with diamagnetic slot fill, is that the magnetic field on thepole with a number of teeth is going in a single direction on a givenpole, as opposed to a constant reversing field in a typical motor.

As discussed above in FIG. 20, at lower frequencies the generated usefulforce stays constant or flat as a function of frequency, as thediamagnetic flux barrier appears like air and has no or little effect.At medium-high frequencies, the flux shielding effect begins to dominateand the force continues to increase with higher frequencies. Thus, byfilling the slots with diamagnetic flux barriers, lower drive current(thus less turns) can be used, which can save money by using less wireand increase efficiency by reducing resistance loss. Moreover, the motorperformance can be further improved by using higher drive current, e.g.,through saturation. Also, the slot depth has an effect on the generatedhorizontal force. The resulting force can be substantially proportionalto the depth of the slot along a direction perpendicular to the air gap.

Axial-Gap Motors with Flux Barriers

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of an example axial-gap motor 2800 withflux barriers between adjacent rotor poles. Axial-gap motor 2800 has arotor 2804 arranged in parallel to a stator 2802. The rotor 2804 definesa central hole 2801, and an output shaft can be arranged in the centralhole 2801 so that the rotor 2804 is rotatable together with the outputshaft.

The rotor 2804 is movable with respect to the stator 2802 by rotationabout a rotational axis of the rotor (or a rotational axis of the outputshaft). An end surface of the rotor 2804 is perpendicular to therotational axis of the rotor. The end surface of the rotor 2804 isspaced apart from an end surface of the stator 2802 along the rotationalaxis to define a nominal gap 2803. The nominal gap 2803 is an axial gapbetween the end surfaces of the stator 2802 and the rotor 2804 and alongthe rotational axis of the rotor.

The stator 2802 defines a series of stator poles 2810 each including astator pole core 2812 surrounded by an associated electrical winding2814. The electrical windings 2814 of the stator 2802 are independentlyactivatable and spaced apart circumferentially about the stator. Therotor 2804 has a series of rotor poles 2820 with flux barriers 2830between the rotor poles 2820. Each flux barrier 2830 has an electricallyconductive loop surrounding a core of magnetically permeable material.The cores of the flux barriers, the rotor poles and the rotor back platecan all be portions of a contiguous piece of ferromagnetic material,such as formed by pressed, sintered powder. The conductive loops of theflux barriers can be, for example, copper rings pressed over the cores.

FIGS. 29-32 show different views of a rotor 2900 of another axial-gapmotor. Rotor 2900 has a flat active end surface (facing the stator, notshown), including pole surface regions forming rotor poles 2920, andinter-pole surface regions formed by flux barriers 2930 between the polesurface regions. In this example, the flux barriers 2930 are shieldedpoles, similar to the shielded poles 1404 of FIG. 14.

Each flux barrier 2930 includes an electrically conductive materialforming a loop 2932 about a core 2934 of a core material. The corematerial is more magnetically permeable than the electrically conductivematerial. The core material can be ferromagnetic. The core material ofthe cores 2934 and pole material of the rotor poles 2920 can be thesame, and the cores 2934 and the rotor poles 2920 form a continuouswhole rotor body, such as of sintered iron powder. The conductivematerial of the flux barriers can be cast into the formed rotor core.

As illustrated in FIGS. 29-32, each loop 2932 includes five loopportions 2932 a, 2932 b, 2932 c, 2932 d, and 2932 e. The loop portion2932 a form a portion of the end surface of the rotor 2900.

The loop portion 2932 b extends along a direction parallel to therotational axis to an extent with a depth, and forms a portion of anouter radial surface of the rotor 2900. The end surface is perpendicularto the outer radial surface. The loop portion 2932 c extends along adirection parallel to the rotational axis to an extent with a depth, andforms a portion of an inner radial surface of the rotor 2900. The depthof the loop portion 2932 c can be identical to the depth of the loopportion 2932 b.

The loop portions 2932 d and 2932 e extend along a radial direction fromthe inner radial surface of the rotor to the outer radial surface of therotor to form shielding walls between adjacent rotor poles 2920 and thecore 2934. The loop portions 2932 d and 2932 e also extend into therotor body to an extent with a depth that can be identical to the depthof the loop portions 2932 b and 2932 c. Each of the loop portions canhave a consistent and identical thickness, preferably greater than anelectric current skin depth of the electrically conductive material ofthe loop 2932 at a particular operational frequency.

Stators with Flux Barriers

Flux barriers can also be provided in stators of the motors to furtherincrease performance.

FIG. 33 shows a stator 3300 with flux barriers 3320 arranged betweenstator poles 3310. The stator poles 3310 can be housed or connected by amagnetically permeable yoke 3302. Each stator pole 3310 includes astator core 3312 surrounded by associated electrical windings 3314. Thestator cores 3312 (and yoke) can be made of a stack of layers offerromagnetic material extending along a longitudinal axis. The layersare separated from one another by interfaces less electricallyconductive than the ferromagnetic material. The stator cores 3312 can bestator projections that protrude from the yoke 3302.

Each flux barrier 3320 forms flux shields extending along opposite edgesof the stator poles 3310 and formed of a material having a greaterelectrical conductivity than the ferromagnetic material of the statorcores 3312. The flux barrier 3320 can extend into gaps between adjacentelectrical windings 3314. As illustrated in FIG. 34, the flux barrier3320 can extend from an air gap 3350 to the yoke 3302 connectingadjacent stator poles 3310. The air gap 3350 is defined between twoouter surfaces of the stator 3300 and a rotor 3400. The rotor 3400includes a series of rotor poles 3410 with flux barriers 3420therebetween, as discussed above.

As illustrated in FIGS. 33 and 34, each stator core 3312 surrounded bythe electrical windings 3314 has an angular width WO along acircumference of the stator 3300. Flux barriers 3320 extend into notchesat the faces of the stator cores 3312, such that an angular width W1 ofthe stator core 3312 at the air gap, between opposite edges of adjacentflux barriers 3320, is smaller than the angular width W0 of the statorcore 3312 surrounded by the electrical windings 3314. That is, W1<W0.

FIG. 35 shows another stator 3500 with flux barriers 3520 arrangedbetween stator poles 3510. Similar to the stator 3300 of FIGS. 33-34,each stator pole 3510 includes a stator core 3512 surrounded byassociated electrical windings 3514. The stator cores 3312 can be statorprojections that protrude from a magnetically permeable yoke 3502,formed as a stack of magnetically permeable plates withcurrent-inhibiting interfaces. Each flux barrier 3520 is formed of amaterial having a greater electrical conductivity than a material of thestator cores 3512 and crossing the interfaces of the stack. Asillustrated in FIG. 36, the flux barrier 3520 can extend from an air gap3550 to the yoke 3502, connecting adjacent stator poles 3510 at the airgap 3550 defined between the stator 3500 and a rotor 3600. The rotor3600 includes a series of rotor poles 3610 with flux barriers 3620therebetween, as discussed above.

Motor 3500 differs from that of FIGS. 33-34 in that the angular width ofthe stator cores is essentially constant from the air gap to the yoke3502. That is, W0=W1.

FIG. 37 shows another stator 3700 with flux barriers 3720 arrangedbetween stator poles 3710. Similar to the stator 3300 of FIGS. 33-34,each stator poles 3710 includes a stator core 3712 surrounded byassociated electrical windings 3714. The stator cores 3712 can be statorprojections that protrude from a magnetically permeable yoke 3702, withstator cores and yoke formed as a stack of ferromagnetic plates withcurrent-inhibiting interfaces. Each flux barrier 3720 is formed of anelectrically conductive material and crosses at least a majority of theplate interfaces of the stator cores. As illustrated in FIG. 38, theflux barrier 3520 can extend from an inner surface of the stator 3700 tothe yoke 3502 connecting adjacent stator poles 3710.

Stator cores 3712 have longitudinally continuous tabs that are receivedin corresponding slots of the flux barriers 3720. After the windings areassembled onto the cores, the flux barriers can be insertedlongitudinally and held in place by the tabs of the stator cores,further securing the windings.

Linear Motors with Flux Barriers

As discussed above, flux barriers can be configured in radial-gap motorsand axial-gap motors, in which rotor poles and/or stator poles arearranged circumferentially. In the following, linear mirrors with fluxbarriers are discussed, in which rotor poles and/or stator poles arearranged linearly, and the relative motion between stator and rotor isalong a line.

FIGS. 39 and 40 show an example linear motor 3900 including a stator3910 and a rotor 3950. The rotor 3950 is movable with respect to thestator 3910 along a motion direction and defines, together with thestator 3910, a nominal gap 3940 having a width perpendicular to themotion direction.

The stator 3910 defines a series of stator poles 3920 positionedlinearly along the motion direction and connected linearly by amagnetically permeable yoke or back plate 3902. Each stator pole 3920includes a stator core 3922 surrounded by associated electrical windings3924. The stator cores 3922 can be made of a stack of layers offerromagnetic material, with each layer extending along the motiondirection. The layers are separated from one another by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material. The statorcores 3922 can be stator projections that protrude from the yoke 3902.The stator projections define slots 3930 therebetween.

The rotor 3950 includes a series of rotor poles 3960 with flux barriers3970 therebetween and spaced apart along the motion direction. The fluxbarriers 3970 can be shielded poles, similar to the flux barriers 1504of FIG. 15. Each flux barrier 3970 is made of an electrically conductiveloop 3972 about a magnetically permeable core 3974 between adjacentrotor poles 3960. The rotor poles 3960 can be made of a laminated stackof layers of ferromagnetic material separated from one another byinterfaces less electrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material.Flux barriers 3970 each have a flat outer surface parallel to the motiondirection and forming an inter-pole surface region between pole surfaceregions of the rotor poles 3960. The inter-pole surface regions and thepole surface regions define an outer surface (or an end surface) of therotor 3950. Each core 3974 forms a portion of the outer surfacesurrounded by a respective loop 3972. The loops 3972 can be made of anelectrically conductive, low energy product material, such as copper. Amaterial of the core 3974 is more magnetically permeable than thematerial of the loops 3974. The material of the cores 3974 and theferromagnetic material of the rotor poles 3960 can be contiguousportions of the stack of the layers. The loops 3972 of the flux barriers3970 are non-overlapping and electrically isolated from one anotherexternal to the ferromagnetic material. The flux barriers 3970 areelectrically connected to each other only through the ferromagneticmaterial, if at all.

FIGS. 41 and 42 show another example linear motor 4100 including astator 4110 and a rotor 4150, where the stator 4110 and the rotor 4150each have multiple teeth poles, as described above with respect to FIG.27, but in which the conductive material between teeth is formed intoloops. The rotor 4150 is movable with respect to the stator 4110 along amotion direction and defines, together with the stator 4110, a nominalgap 4440 having a width perpendicular to the motion direction.

Similar to the stator 3910 of FIGS. 39-40, the stator 4110 defines aseries of stator poles 4120 positioned linearly along the motiondirection and connected linearly by a magnetically permeable yoke orback plate 4102. Each stator pole 4120 includes a stator core 4122surrounded by associated electrical windings 4124. The stator cores 4122can be made of a stack of layers of ferromagnetic material, each layerextending along the motion direction. The layers are separated from oneanother by interfaces less electrically conductive than theferromagnetic material. The stator cores 4122 can be stator projectionsthat protrude from the yoke 4102. The stator projections define slots4130 therebetween. Different from the stator 3910, the stator pole 4120(or the stator core 4122) includes multiple teeth 4122 a with slots 4122b therebetween, at least at the outer surface of the stator pole 4120.As discussed above, flux barriers are formed in the slots 4122 b betweenmultiple stator pole teeth 4122 a. In the configuration shown, materialin the two left slots 4122 b of each stator pole forms a loop around theleft stator tooth 4122 a, and material in the two right slots forms asecond loop around the right stator tooth 4122 a. In this configuration,the two loops act to shield flux penetration through the outer twostator pole teeth. Alternatively, electrically conductive materialfilling each of the inter-tooth slots 4122 b can each act as a separate,local flux reflector through the effect of eddy currents set up withinthe conductive material (without forming a loop with the material of anadjacent slot). As another alternative, each slot 4122 b may itselfcontain a shielded pole flux barrier.

The rotor 4150 includes a series of rotor poles positioned linearlyalong the motion direction. Each rotor pole includes multiple teeth 4160with flux barriers 4170 in slots between adjacent teeth 4160. Each fluxbarrier 4170 can be shielded poles, similar to the flux barriers 3970 ofFIG. 39. Each flux barrier 4170 is made of an electrically conductiveloop 4172 about a magnetically permeable core 4174 between adjacentrotor pole teeth 4160. The loops 4172 can be made of an electricallyconductive, low energy product material. A core material of the core4174 is more magnetically permeable than the material of the loops 4174.The core material of the cores 4174 and the ferromagnetic material ofthe rotor poles 4160 can be contiguous portions of the stack of thelayers. The loops 4172 of the flux barriers 4170 are non-overlapping andelectrically isolated from one another external to the ferromagneticmaterial. The flux barriers 4170 can be connected to each other onlythrough the ferromagnetic material.

Operation of Motors with Flux Barriers

Effects of flux barriers can vary on horizontal forces under differentfrequencies. As illustrated in FIG. 20, a horizontal force can start toincrease above a cutoff frequency, e.g., 10 Hz, and the increase betweena lower frequency, e.g., 10 Hz, and a higher frequency, e.g., 10⁵ Hz,can be more than one order of magnitude. At higher frequencies, a fluxbarrier can exhibit stronger diamagnetic properties to concentrate themagnetic flux towards the rotor pole, which in turns increases thecomponent of force along the motion direction.

The useful force can be also affected by operating conditions. Undersaturated conditions and at a high frequency, the flux barriers canexhibit stronger diamagnetic properties to concentrate the magnetic fluxtowards the rotor pole, compared to in unsaturated conditions. Theuseful force can keep increasing when the frequency increases. Forexample, at a higher frequency, e.g., 10⁵ Hz, the horizontal force canincrease two orders of magnitude when a drive current increases from 10Amp*turns (corresponding to an unsaturated operation condition) to 200Amp*turns (corresponding to a saturated operation condition).

As noted above, a number of teeth per pole can also have an effect onuseful force. An increase in the number of teeth per pole can causegradual increase in the force. However, when a gap size becomes larger,e.g., at 1.0 mm, the force may decrease when the number of teeth perpole increases.

For configurations with flux barriers, each pole set may be operatedunder pulse-DC or pulse-AC current.

The operation utilizes high-inductance and low-resistance flux barriers,resulting in a high reactance that is in phase with the magnetic field.As the magnetic field climbs through the primary coils and reluctanceteeth, the magnetic field is reflected through the shielded teeth andresults in high impedance to the magnetic field. This system can beoperated through an alternating magnetic signal only through 50% of dutycycle (e.g., from unaligned to aligned). Continuing throughout the dutycycle (e.g., from aligned to unaligned) can result in inverse torque.

A higher reactance flux barrier can also enable a higher power factorsystem that can generate torque more efficiently compared to aconventional machine. The high reactance, high impedance flux barrierdesign can prevent substantially all of the magnetic flux frompenetrating the flux barriers throughout the entire cycle of operation.In this way, the motor can benefit from diamagnetic propertiespreviously only experienced in super conducting motors at a broad rangeof temperatures (e.g., room temp-elevated temp). This can also be lesssensitive to temp as compared with permanent magnet motors, which tendto demagnetize above a critical temperature.

The motors described above with flux barriers can be driven dynamicallywith a square wave current. If it is driven dynamically, a square wavemay be used at a relatively lower switching frequency than an equivalentsine wave to induce large reactance in the flux barrier while pulsing ata relatively low frequency (such as 50 Hz). This is due in part to thehigh proportion of harmonic values in a square wave as opposed to a sinewave. This also decreases switching losses required by a powerelectronic device due to high frequently required by pulse-widthmodulation (PWM) switching. In such operation, relatively thin (e.g.,0.127 mm) laminations can be used to decrease eddy current loss in coreiron and low gauge (e.g., 0.2 mm) or even Litz wire windings can beutilized in the primary coils to decrease skin effect losses in the corewindings.

The motors described above can also benefit from higher windingefficiency of the coils. Whereas the typical slot fill ratio of awinding is 30-40% of a given slot area, by utilizing casting techniquesto fill flux barriers in slots between adjacent poles the motor canutilize substantially all (e.g., 85-95%) of the slot volume for the fluxbarriers. This can decrease the amount of total wire necessary for theprimary winding of the motor, which can enable the primary winding touse less turns compared to a typical motor.

As noted above, filling the slots with a diamagnetic flux materialoffers a means to concentrate the magnetic flux in operation of themotor. Specifically, when the stator and rotor are disposed in anunaligned state, significant internal electromagnetic reflectionprevents the majority of magnetic communication from the opposing polesurfaces. This diamagnetic shielding allows the field slots toeffectively push the rotor while the reluctance of the electromagneticpoles pull the rotor. This effect allows more energy per cycle to beproduced from the system and is similar to the effect permanent magnetscan produce in certain configurations.

This effect provides a notably advantage over permanent magnets, whichmay be subject to demagnetization by high eddy currents. This effect maybe seen in a B-H curve examining coercivity of a permanent magnet. Inthe motors described above, a high reactance flux barrier canapproximate a permanent magnet in the opposite direction with aninfinite coercivity. Thus, the flux barrier can reflect the imposedmagnetic field to achieve magnetic field levels beyond what may beachieved in typical permanent magnet motors, which can increase torquedensity, power density, and efficiency by creating a larger back EMF.Moreover, whereas permanent magnets demagnetize at elevated temperaturesas previously mentioned, flux barriers can be constructed of materialscapable of withstanding temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit hotterthan typical permanent magnets.

Moreover, where permanent magnets produce a constant magnetic field, thediamagnetic flux barrier exists dynamically in a transient state. Thisbenefits both efficiency and safety, as permanent magnet motors canresult in dent torque, cogging torque, and braking torque, which cansometimes be catastrophic due to the EMF that can be produced whether ornot power it utilized. The above motors can be controlled to effectivelyfreewheel for long periods of time, with losses only from the resistanceof the bearings.

Further, unlike an IM having significant inductive load that generates acontinuous current, the current in each flux barrier is allowed to goback to near zero each cycle. The higher the operating frequency of themotor, the lower the necessary current is required in each flux barrierto maintain reflection. Because the system is reactive, energy is eitherreturned elastically or translated into kinetic energy of the rotor ineach switching cycle.

The diamagnetic flux barrier slot filling can be tuned, both for a givenapplication and dynamically during operation. Unlike air, the magneticproperties of the system can be tuned, both in amplitude ofmagnetomotive force (MMF) for a given position, and in frequency of theMMF. This allows for real time adaptation by weakening or strengtheningthe magnetic flux properties of the system by changing the switchingfrequency of the motor. This can change the back-EMF on the primarycoil, which can allow the motor to achieve broader speed ranges thantraditional motors. Traditional motors have a fixed back-EMF based on afixed saliency ratio, which is used to change the magnitude of magneticfield. The motor can change the magnitude of the magnetic field, inaddition to the activating frequency of the motor's operation.

At higher speeds, the motor can operate as a reactive reluctance motor.In conventional SRM operation, peak voltage is applied at onset of theunaligned position of stator and rotor (or the stator-rotor teeth) andcurrent is rapidly increased until the stator and rotor (or thestator-rotor teeth) reach a point of alignment. At this point, a reversevoltage is applied and current then drops to zero. In a locked rotor(stall) condition in a conventional SRM, current is continuously appliedrather than pulsed. In a motor with flux barriers, during stall currentis pulsed through an active coil. Once pole switching frequency exceedsthe cross-over frequency of the flux barriers during motor acceleration,each pole may be excited by a single pulse.

Example Process

Implementations of the present disclosure provide a method of driving anelectric motor. The electric motor can be the electric motor 102 of FIG.1, and the method can be performed by a motor controller, e.g., themotor controller 104 of FIG. 1.

During operation, the motor controller energizes a first active pole ofa series of active poles disposed along an air gap between the series ofactive poles and a passive magnetic component having a series of passivepoles disposed along the air gap, by pulsing current through anelectrical winding associated with the first active pole. The pulsedcurrent includes a sequence of at least three pulses during whichsequence windings of adjacent active poles of the series of active polesare not energized. Pulsing current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole can cause current to pass throughthe electrical winding associated with the first active pole accordingto a current waveform in which a ratio of a maximum current to a minimumcurrent during pulsing of current through the electrical windingassociated with the first active pole is at least 4:1, 7:1, or even10:1.

In some cases, the electrical winding associated with the first activepole includes multiple coils conductively connected in parallel andwound about a common core. The motor controller can pulse the currentthrough the multiple coils conductively connected in parallel.

In some examples, the motor controller pulses the current through theelectrical winding associated with the first active pole by operating afirst switch to open and close in multiple cycles between a voltagesource and the electrical winding associated with the first active pole.The first switch can be associated with the first active pole andconductively coupled to the first active pole. The first switch can bethe switch 134 of FIG. 2 or the power switch 200 of FIG. 2A.

After the first active pole has been energized (by multiple currentpulses), the motor controller then energizes a second active pole of theseries of active poles, by pulsing current through an electrical windingassociated with the second active pole. The pulsed current for thesecond active pole also includes a sequence of at least three pulsesduring which sequence the winding of the first active pole is notenergized, causing current to pass through the electrical windingassociated with the second active pole according to a current waveform.In the current waveform, a ratio of a maximum current to a minimumcurrent during pulsing of current through the electrical windingassociated with the second active pole is at least 4:1, 7:1, or even10:1.

The first active pole can be energized by pulsing current at a pulsefrequency of between 2 Hz and 1 MHz, in some cases between 10 Hz and 20kHz, and in some cases between 100 Hz and 5 kHz. Energizing the firstactive pole and then energizing the second active pole can generate afirst force between the first active pole and a passive pole across theair gap from the first active pole, and a second force between thesecond active pole and a passive pole across the air gap from the secondactive pole. The first and second forces can induce a relative motionbetween the active poles and the passive poles. The relative motion caninclude a motion of the passive magnetic component with respect to theactive poles.

In some examples, the passive magnetic component is a rotor of themotor, and the relative motion includes rotation of the rotor. The motorcontroller can further detect a rotor speed and control a frequency ofthe pulsed current (or the pulse frequency) as a function of thedetected rotor speed. The motor controller can further maintain acurrent pulse frequency during rotor speed changes, up to at least arotor speed at which a frequency at which each active pole is energizedis at least one-half the pulse frequency. The current can be pulsedthrough the electrical windings associated with the first and secondpoles only below a rotor speed corresponding to one pulse per poleenergization.

After energizing the second active pole, the motor controller canenergize a third active pole of the series of active poles, disposed onan opposite side of the second active pole than the first active pole,by pulsing current through an electrical winding associated with thethird active pole, including a sequence of at least three pulses duringwhich sequence the windings of the first and second active poles are notenergized. After energizing the third active pole, the motor controllercan again energize the first active pole by pulsing current through theelectrical winding associated with the first active pole, and then againenergize the second active pole by pulsing current through theelectrical winding associated with the second active pole, and thenagain energizing the third active pole, and so on.

As noted above, flux barriers can be implemented in the passive magneticcomponent. In some examples, pulsing the current through the electricalwinding associated with the first active pole generates eddy current ina first flux barrier adjacent a passive pole across the air gap from thefirst active pole. The flux barrier has an electrical conductivityhigher than the passive pole across the air gap. The passive magneticcomponent can further include a second flux barrier, with the passivepole across the air gap from the first active pole disposed between thefirst and second flux barriers. The first and second flux barriers areelectrically isolated from one another external to the passive poles.

In some motors, the passive poles are formed by a stack of layers ofmagnetically permeable material. The eddy current in the first fluxbarrier acts to repel magnetic flux from the first active pole. In someexamples, the first flux barrier is disposed between the passive poleacross the air gap from the first active pole and an adjacent passivepole, and the flux barrier forms a conductive loop of an electricallyconductive material about a core of a core material more magneticallypermeable than the electrically conductive material.

In some cases, the passive magnetic component further includes fluxbarriers between adjacent pairs of passive poles of the series ofpassive poles, and the flux barriers each include an electricallyconductive material differing from material forming the passive polesand defining at least one electrically conductive path aboutmagnetically permeable core material. The flux barriers are electricallyisolated from one another external to the series of passive poles.Adjacent flux barriers can be arranged such that any conductive pathdefined within the electrically conductive material of one flux barrierdoes not encircle any portion of any conductive path defined within theelectrically conductive material of another flux barrier.

In some implementations, the motor further includes flux shieldsextending along opposite edges of each active pole and formed of amaterial having a greater electrical conductivity than material of theactive pole disposed between the flux shields. The flux shields canextend into gaps between adjacent electrical windings. The flux shieldscan extend from the air gap to a magnetically permeable yoke connectingadjacent active poles.

Example Cooling and Heat Mitigation

Electric motors can generate significant heat during operation andrequire cooling, especially during higher frequency operation. An activecooling system can be used to provide intermittent or continuous coolingof surface by circulating a fluid coolant through the motor. The coolingsystem can be the cooling system as described in pending patentapplication Ser. No. 62/675,207, filed on May 23, 2018 and entitled“Electric Motor,” the contents of which are expressly incorporatedherein by reference as if set forth in their entirety.

Also, if operating temperatures are depressed, the efficiency and powerof a flux barrier can increase for a given frequency. Typicallyoperating conditions are −80° C. to 300° C. Coolant may be added to themotor system to further suppress the temperature and increase thediamagnetic properties of a flux barrier.

A coolant may be any conventional fluid used for heat mitigation. Atoperating conditions, the coolant may be a low viscosity fluid in therange of 1 to 500 centipoise, such as water or motor oil to allow forboth high cooling efficiency and rotational dynamics. Coolant may alsoprovide the damping of vibration generated during operation, as well asproviding restorative force to harmonics that are generated at higherrotational speeds.

Active cooling may enable greater power density by providing a medium toabsorb heat from electrical coils and mechanical contact surfaces. Anactive lubrication system may be used to provide intermittent orcontinuous lubrication of surface by circulating a fluid lubricantthrough the motor. For example, a fluid pump may mechanically promote alubricant to flow from the fluid pump to the motor via fluid lines,where it may be discharged via directional nozzles to provide activelubrication and/or fluid cooling to specific locations within the motor.Fluid may then gravitationally collect in an oil pan at the base of themotor and flow via a return fluid line back to the pump forrecirculation. In this way, a motor rotor assembly may operate in acool, non-submerged environment. In addition, a portion of the lubricantmay pass through a heat exchanger to add or remove heat from thelubricant in order to modulate the temperature and/or viscosity of thelubricant to meet the specific needs of an application.

A coolant may be any conventional fluid used for heat mitigation. Atoperating conditions, the coolant may be a low viscosity fluid in therange of 1 to 500 centipoise, such as water or motor oil to allow forboth high cooling efficiency and rotational dynamics. Coolant may alsoprovide the dampening of vibration generated during operation, as wellas providing restorative force to harmonics that are generated at higherrotational speeds.

The motor may include a collection pan to gravitationally collect thecoolant discharged within the motor assembly and direct it toward areturn fluid line.

The coolant system may have a fluid pump that provides a pressuregradient to the coolant resulting in circulation through the fluidsystem. Such a pump may be a fixed displacement pump, such as a rotarypump, or a variable displacement pumps, such as a gear or piston pump.The pump may be operationally connected to a mechanical or electricalpower source and may be operated continuously or intermittently duringmotor operation. A wet sump active lubrication system may have a singlefluid pump operationally connected to a collection pan to circulate oilthrough fluid lines and within the cooled system. In this case, themajority of the oil supply is located in the collection pan.Alternatively, multiple fluid pumps may be operated in a dry sump activecoolant configuration where fluid from the collection pan iscontinuously pumped into a holding tank, preferably with a large heightrelative to its cross-sectional area, and a second pump may pump thefluid under a separate, controlled flow rate back to the motor tocomplete coolant circulation.

The coolant system may have one or more directional nozzles to directcoolant to specific locations within the motor assembly including, forexample, the stator poles.

Other Embodiments

Any of the above-described motors can be controlled to generateelectrical energy from dynamic energy (such as for regenerativelybraking the motor). This may be accomplished by altering the timing ofthe excitation signal such that stator current is pulsed at the point ofminimum air gap (or even slightly lagging the point of minimum air gap)to generate forward EMF during expansion. In this manner, electricalcurrent can be generated and directed to storage in an associatedbattery while a deceleration torque is applied to the rotor to slow themotor, even though the motor is not mechanically back drivable by torqueapplied to the output shaft.

Any of the above-described motors can be controlled to generateelectrical energy from dynamic energy (such as for regenerativelybraking the motor). This may be accomplished by altering the timing ofthe compression wave such that stator current is pulsed at the point ofminimum air gap (or even slightly lagging the point of minimum air gap)to generate forward EMF during expansion. In this manner, electricalcurrent can be generated and directed to storage in an associatedbattery while a deceleration torque is applied to the rotor to slow themotor, even though the motor is not mechanically backdrivable by torqueapplied to the output shaft.

While a number of examples have been described for illustrationpurposes, the foregoing description is not intended to limit the scopeof the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims.There are and will be other examples and modifications within the scopeof the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric motor comprising: a stator definingmultiple stator poles with associated electrical windings; and a rotorcomprising multiple rotor poles, the rotor movable with respect to thestator and defining, together with the stator, a nominal gap between thestator poles and the rotor poles, the rotor poles comprising amagnetically permeable pole material; wherein the rotor comprises fluxbarriers between adjacent rotor poles, the flux barriers each comprisinga second material having an electrical conductivity different than themagnetically permeable pole material; and wherein the flux barriers areelectrically isolated from one another external to the rotor poles. 2.The electric motor of claim 1, wherein the electrical conductivity ofthe flux barriers is greater than the electrical conductivity of themagnetically permeable pole material.
 3. The electric motor of claim 1,wherein the magnetically permeable pole material of the rotor polescomprise a stack of layers of ferromagnetic material separated from oneanother, at least at a surface of the rotor, by interfaces lesselectrically conductive than the ferromagnetic material.
 4. The electricmotor of claim 1, wherein the stator comprises an active magneticcomponent with multiple active poles associated with the electricalwindings; wherein the rotor comprises a passive magnetic componentdefining a series of spaced-apart passive poles of the magneticallypermeable pole material defining slots therebetween, the slots extendingat a non-zero angle to a first direction; wherein each slot contains arespective flux barrier comprising the second material extending alongthe slot and forming an electrically conductive path along the slot; andwherein the flux barriers are secured to the magnetically permeable polematerial within the slots and are connected to each other only throughthe magnetically permeable pole material.
 5. The electric motor of claim4, wherein the passive magnetic component comprises multiple passivepoles comprising magnetically permeable pole material; wherein thepassive magnetic component further comprises the flux barriersconnecting adjacent passive poles of the passive magnetic component, theflux barriers each comprising an electrically conductive materialdiffering from the magnetically permeable pole material and defining atleast one electrically conductive path about magnetically permeable corematerial; and wherein adjacent flux barriers are arranged such that anyconductive path defined within the electrically conductive material ofany flux barrier does not encircle any portion of any conductive pathdefined within the electrically conductive material of another fluxbarrier.
 6. The electric motor of claim 4, further comprising: a motorcontroller comprising multiple switches coupled to respective electricalwindings or sets of windings of the active magnetic component, whereinthe motor controller is configured to: sequentially operate the switchesfor respective pole energization duty cycles to generate magnetic fluxacross the nominal gap between the active poles and passive poles; and,during an energization duty cycle of each active pole, to pulse currentthrough the winding of the active pole, including a sequence of at least3 pulses during which sequence windings of adjacent active poles are notenergized.
 7. The electric motor of claim 6, wherein the electricalwindings of the motor are configured such that a ratio of maximum andminimum current through the winding of an energized active pole duringcurrent pulsing is at least 4:1.
 8. The electric motor of claim 1,wherein the second material of each flux barrier forms an electricallyconductive loop about a respective rotor pole.
 9. The electric motor ofclaim 8, wherein the loop defines a capacitance.
 10. The electric motorof claim 9, wherein the capacitance is formed at a discrete locationalong the loop.
 11. An electric motor comprising: a stator definingmultiple stator poles with associated electrical windings; and a rotorcomprising multiple rotor poles, the rotor movable with respect to thestator and defining, together with the stator, a nominal gap between thestator poles and the rotor poles, the rotor poles being of a stack oflayers of ferromagnetic material separated from one another, at least ata surface of the rotor, by interfaces less electrically conductive thanthe ferromagnetic material; wherein the rotor comprises a plurality ofconductors arranged about the rotor, wherein adjacent conductors arearranged such that any conductive path defined by the conductor does notencircle any portion of any conductive path defined within electricallyconductive material of another conductor; and wherein the conductors areelectrically isolated from one another external to the ferromagneticmaterial.
 12. The electric motor of claim 11 further comprising: whereinthe stator comprises an active magnetic component with multiple activepoles associated with the electrical windings; wherein the rotorcomprises a passive magnetic component defining a series of spaced-apartpassive poles of the ferromagnetic material defining spaced-apart polesurface regions of a first material; wherein the passive magneticcomponent comprises magnetically permeable material defining internalpaths connecting respective adjacent pairs of the pole surface regionson opposite sides of respective inter-pole surface regions; and whereinthe inter-pole surface regions comprise an electrically conductive, lowenergy product second material and are each electrically isolated fromone another external to the magnetically permeable material.
 13. Theelectric motor of claim 12 further comprising a motor controllercomprising multiple switches coupled to respective electrical windingsor sets of windings of the active magnetic component, wherein the motorcontroller is configured to: sequentially operate the switches forrespective pole energization duty cycles to generate magnetic fluxacross the nominal gap between the active poles and passive poles; and,during an energization duty cycle of each active pole, to pulse currentthrough the winding of the active pole, including a sequence of at least3 pulses during which sequence windings of adjacent active poles are notenergized; and wherein the electrical windings of the motor areconfigured such that a ratio of maximum and minimum current through thewinding of an energized active pole during current pulsing is at least4:1.
 14. The electric motor of claim 12, wherein the conductor forms anelectrically conductive loop about a respective pole.
 15. The electricmotor of claim 14, wherein the loop defines a capacitance.
 16. Theelectric motor of claim 15, wherein the capacitance is formed at adiscrete location along the loop.
 17. A method of driving an electricmotor, the method comprising: energizing a first active pole of a seriesof active poles disposed along an air gap between the series of activepoles and a passive magnetic component having a series of passive polesdisposed along the air gap, by pulsing current through an electricalwinding associated with the first active pole, including a sequence ofat least 3 pulses during which sequence windings of adjacent activepoles of the series of active poles are not energized; and thenenergizing a second active pole of the series of active poles, bypulsing current through an electrical winding associated with the secondactive pole, including a sequence of at least 3 pulses during whichsequence the winding of the first active pole is not energized, causingcurrent to pass through the electrical winding associated with thesecond active pole according to a current waveform in which a ratio of amaximum current to a minimum current during pulsing of current throughthe electrical winding associated with the second active pole is atleast 4:1.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising detectingrotor speed and controlling a frequency of the pulsed current as afunction of the detected rotor speed.
 19. The method of claim 18,further comprising maintaining current pulse frequency during rotorspeed changes, up to at least a rotor speed at which a frequency atwhich each active pole is energized is at least one-half the pulsefrequency.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein pulsing current throughthe electrical winding associated with a first active pole generateseddy current in a first flux barrier adjacent a passive pole across theair gap from the first active pole, the flux barrier having anelectrical conductivity higher than the passive pole across the air gap.